Angela Price’s Instagram story and blog post about alternative vaccine schedules may have been taken down, but its effects could linger, say experts.
The controversial posts by the socialite wife of Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price talked about the vaccination schedule for their two daughters and how she follows some methods prescribed by polarizing California doctor Bob Sears, who has been outspoken against mandatory vaccines and is currently on probation.
Dr. Earl Rubin, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at MUHC, said the posts discredit the science that shows the necessity for vaccines.
“20 to 30 percent of parents are vaccine-hesitant,” he said during an interview on CTV Montreal’s Saturday evening newscast. “It’s that hesitancy that leaves them vulnerable to posts or what they read.”
In a followup post, Price, whose website says she has a marketing degree, admitted that she wasn’t aware that Sears was under probation.
“For sure, someone who is a blogger or puts things out without substantiated evidence, it’s easy and people will be swayed,” he said. “That’s my concern, that the information out there is not necessarily the correct information.”
Price wrote that because she and Carey live in different places during the year, they have three doctors that treat their two daughters.
The couple has embraced the alternative schedule, which has its dangers.
“The issue of giving vaccines at a time when they’re not recommended is that we don’t necessarily know about the safety and effectiveness,” Rubin said. “But more importantly, we’re trying to vaccinate children at the time when they’re most succeptible to the illness that we’re trying to prevent.”
