Yesterday, the Lancet retracted a 1988 study that found a link between vaccinations and autism. If you've been even mildly following this debate, you know that this has been coming for a long time.

There is absolutely no evidence that vaccinating children causes autism. None. Give it up, Jenny McCarthy.

Still, people are having a hard time listening to science. Dan Drezner explains,

Unfortunately, Moody's statement does seem to evoke Drezner's Eleventh Commandment of Policy Wonks.  Activists will argue that this is an example of Big Science suppressing counterintuitive research.  And in a public battle between the Jenny McCarthy/Oprah media-industrial complex and a bunch of science nerds, I'm putting my money on Mustard Girl.  And I'm not the only one. 

In my prior research,
I've seen this kind of dynamic play out in the debates over genetically
modified foods, and we're still seeing it play out in the debate over
climate change.  Furthermore, because scientists are not perfect., it's
becoming easier to point out flaws that don't necessarily compromise the basic science but do tarnish the image of scientists as neutral arbiters of fact. 

Time for another viewing of this movie.