A film crew from PBS was in Ashland this past weekend through Tuesday. They were shooting footage of Ashland for a “Frontline” documentary on the whole debate about childhood vaccines.
I spent three hours Saturday morning being interviewed by the producer, Kate McMahon, who asked a lot of difficult and very smart questions.
Sunday Baby Leone and I participated in a discussion about vaccines led by James Shames, M.D., who is the person responsible for Jackson County’s public health.
Monday the team came to the YMCA to get footage of my oldest daughter doing gymnastics and my son swimming in the pool.
Tuesday they came over again to get some B-roll of me working in my office.
They are featuring Ashland in the documentary because so many parents here have chosen not to vaccinate, to selectively vaccinate, or to vaccinate on a schedule alternative to what is recommended by the CDC.
They’ve also interviewed a slew of other people, including Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carey, J.B. Hanley, Barbara Loe Fisher, Paul Offit, James Shames, Bob Sears, and many more. They must have hundreds of hours of footage by now. It will be fascinating to see how they put it all together.
Here are some scenes from the first interview:
Producer Kate McMahon reviews her notes
Camera man Mark Rublee sets up the equipment
Me trying not to be nervous before the cameras start rolling
How interesting to be part of that! Will you let us know when it runs?
I will look forward to watching this show.
Can’t wait to see it!