The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel's front page story Sunday was about a 9-year-old boy, Dylan Bocanegra, who developed Bell's Palsy supposedly from receiving the H1N1 vaccine. The boys mother was interviewed and stated that she would never again attempt to get her children vaccinated against the flu virus. The story painted the disease as horrifying and the mother was seemingly distraught at her child's "possibly severe" reaction.
This story was ridiculous and did an immense disservice to the public. Not only is Bell's Palsy an extremely rare reaction to flu vaccines and it is almost always temporary and will leave no permanent damage, but they are not even sure if the vaccine was the cause of the disease. The disease is a viral infection of the facial nerve, when the infection grows, it presses down on the facial nerve causing it too decrease in function (hence the crooked smile of the 9-year-old boy). The article was seemingly aimed at deterring people from getting the H1N1 vaccine, when in fact it is more likely to develop Bell's Palsy from getting the flu than it is from getting the vaccine.
This brings up the issue of the press' role in society. I'm all for freedom of the press, let them print whatever they want. But it is also my opinion that being an authority of trust they should approach issues with caution. The public looks to the media for guidance and support and they should not abuse this trust by publishing sensationalist stories even if they may be hurting the greater society. How many more people do you think will get sick from H1N1 this year, simply because they were too scared of a ridiculous possibility to get vaccinated?
Link:
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2009/12/11/121209_1A_H1N1_reaction.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=7
http://www.bellspalsy.ws/
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