"We have identified a chronic enterocolitis in children that may be related to neuropsychiatric dysfunction. In most cases, onset of symptoms was after measles, mumps, and rubella immunisation. Further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to this vaccine. "
It was a study of twelve (12!) children! To credit Wakefield with sole responsibility of the "MMR scare" over that simple statement is crazy. There is no way that Wakefield's paper single-handedly sparked and sustained this debacle for some fifteen years now.
What really smells in this affair is Brian Deer, a journalist in the employ of a director of GSK (James Murdoch), who himself made the initial report against Wakefield et al to the British GMC while simultaneously reporting on the scandal (while denying that he had anything to do with the initial report). As bad as Wakefield's paper was, it was nothing compared to the farce that followed in the form of the GMC hearings, BMJ's character assassination, and later retraction[2] The whole thing is a farce from one end to the other.
>The simple fact is vaccination works.
Of course it does. Stop with the straw man already. But, vaccines aren't flawless. They aren't perfectly safe, and in some cases the risks outweigh the benefits. Effort should be concentrated on perfecting vaccines, not denial of fallibility. Until then, a proper weighting of risks and benefits is required.
>People need to get over it and get vaccinated.
Shall we sign you up for Gardasil, and perhaps the new Acne vaccine? Have you had a Rotavirus booster? Of course you have. Better safe than sorry!
"We have identified a chronic enterocolitis in children that may be related to neuropsychiatric dysfunction. In most cases, onset of symptoms was after measles, mumps, and rubella immunisation. Further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to this vaccine. "
It was a study of twelve (12!) children! To credit Wakefield with sole responsibility of the "MMR scare" over that simple statement is crazy. There is no way that Wakefield's paper single-handedly sparked and sustained this debacle for some fifteen years now.
What really smells in this affair is Brian Deer, a journalist in the employ of a director of GSK (James Murdoch), who himself made the initial report against Wakefield et al to the British GMC while simultaneously reporting on the scandal (while denying that he had anything to do with the initial report). As bad as Wakefield's paper was, it was nothing compared to the farce that followed in the form of the GMC hearings, BMJ's character assassination, and later retraction[2] The whole thing is a farce from one end to the other.
>The simple fact is vaccination works.
Of course it does. Stop with the straw man already. But, vaccines aren't flawless. They aren't perfectly safe, and in some cases the risks outweigh the benefits. Effort should be concentrated on perfecting vaccines, not denial of fallibility. Until then, a proper weighting of risks and benefits is required.
>People need to get over it and get vaccinated.
Shall we sign you up for Gardasil, and perhaps the new Acne vaccine? Have you had a Rotavirus booster? Of course you have. Better safe than sorry!
[2]http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.d1678.long