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RE: The state of vaccine confidence in 2018
What is your take on Dr Downing's view on vaccinations?
Physician, Dr Graham Downing, who is a Neuro-musculoskeletal and Functional Medicine consultant in the UK,
... too medically technical for me, but I'm sure you understand it it!
I've not come across him before but, like I say in the post, I'm not a vaccine scientist I'm a psychologist. While I'm able to assess the quality of the scientific literature in my own field I simply lack the background knowledge to be able to accurately assess vaccine science claims.
That said from a quick glance at his website and elsewhere there are a few red flags when it comes to him being a reliable source of vaccines advice. Firstly, I'm not seeing any published peer reviewed studies from the guy so it would look like he's making his claims without input from other scientists. Science is collaborative, we put forward theories and then our colleagues try to rip those theories down, after that often quite brutal process we can have a higher certainty that the theory is stable enough to build on. If he's operating outside the system this oversight is likely not present.
Secondly he seems more interested in selling his DVDs than actually helping people. If he's still a practising GP (which I cant tell if he is or not, a bonus red flag) then this feels like a conflict in interest here, most GPs I know, do their outreach for free, or at least for expensive.
Personally, I wouldn't trust this guy as a reliable source of vaccine information. I don't have the skills to assess his claim but to me he seems more like a conman taking advantage of people with genuine concerns than purveyor of serious medical advice.