Dr. Andrew Wakefield is a physician best known for his work on autism. In 1998 he published a study in The Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal, which reported on twelve children with autism spectrum disorders and bowel complications and linked them to the MMR vaccine. Enter one of the biggest controversies in medical practice in decades.
While the paper that he and 12 other doctors published stated that there was no causal connection, Dr. Wakefield sounded the alarm and requested that the MMR vaccine be suspended and that more research be conducted in a separate video news release.
From this point a large number of ill informed people, though most likely acting in what they believe to be good intentions, began withholding vaccines from their children and proactively telling others to do the same. This resulted in the obvious dip in the number of people vaccinated from diseases and especially the MMR combination of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella. Herd immunity is the process in which a vaccinated majority protects those who are unvaccinated. The threshold for measles is at 83-94%, mumps at 75-86%, and rubella at 80-85%. When the percentage of the herd, or this instance the community, drops below these percentage points the likelihood of those who are not vaccinated of acquiring the disease begins to rise.
Incidence of Measles
The effectiveness of the vaccine can not be questioned by any logical thinking human being. Prior to vaccines for measles it was felt to be an inevitable part of growing up with the peak being in the late 1950s where nearly 800,000 cases were reported. The graph to the right shows clearly the numbers of cases dropping like a rock after the vaccine was introduced.
Dr. Andrew Wakefield was investigated by reporter Brian Deer of The Sunday Times in 2004. During this investigation it was discovered that Wakefield received funding of 55,000 British pounds from Legal Air Board. They were looking for evidence against vaccine manufacturers. Wakefield did not inform any one of the conflict of interests. Another source of conflict was that Dr. Wakefield was in fact possibly developing a vaccine that would be a competitor of the MMR vaccine and it was alleged that he was applying for patents for such a vaccine. When these reports came out ten of the twelve co-authors of the paper retracted.
Five years later in 2009 The Sunday Times reported on Wakefield again finding that he had manipulated patient data and that the 1998 paper was published with misreported results. They concluded that the misreported results were what caused the appearance of a link to autism.
The General Medical Council investigated and charge that Wakefield and two others acted dishonestly and unethically in their research of the MMR vaccine. The prosecution began presenting its case in August 2007 and finished that October. The General Medical Council came to a conclusion last week that Wakefield had acted "dishonestly and irresponsibly." The Lancet publication today announced they have "fully retract[ed] this paper from the published record."
It has been shown time and time again that there has never been any links to autism from vaccines. Studies upon studies have proven that they only negative effects that are commonly felt with vaccines are typically rashes and egg allergies. I would love to imagine that this would end this debate once and for all but does anyone honestly believe the quacks that have so much invested in this sham are going to give up?
This post was listed on the
I Speak of Dreams blog titled "
On The Lancet's Retraction of Wakefield's 1998 Paper Alleging A Connection Between the MMR Vaccine and Autism."
