Andrew Wakefield is perhaps one of the most renowned (former)-epidemiologists, known for his 1998 study linking the MMR vaccine to autism. After the original release of Wakefield’s study, co-authored with 11 of his colleagues, the world faced an extremely controversial decision on whether or not to vaccinate their children, and health concerns rose rapidly. To some, Wakefield’s conclusion still rings true, as parents still have fear instilled within them about their children’s health. Doctors and nurses become frustrated, because although the study was retracted, families are still hesitant of vaccination. The rest of this post will be addressing the study, relatively current events, and the response of MMR infections and vaccinations world wide.
So here’s the breakdown of what happened: Wakefield, and 11 of his colleagues, tested children diagnosed with autism to determine if their disorder was caused by vaccines. The study consisted of 12 patients between ages 3 and 10, all of whom were said to be on the spectrum. The children were the past 12 patients to admitted to the gastroenterology unit in the UK, making convenient appearances to investigate his findings. His results deduced that the MMR vaccine was linked to the development of autism, and thus it would be ill-advised to push vaccinating children.
In short, Wakefield’s results were not perceived well. According to the US National Library of Medicine, the retaliation was almost immediate. Epidemiologists rushed to reevaluate Wakefield’s work, determined to prove him wrong. Unsurprisingly, they were victorious. Although both autism and measles, mumps, or rubella all usually occur during early childhood, there is not a definitive linkage between them. Many convenience factors played into Wakefield’s conclusion, and a point was exposed after the retraction that made it obvious as to why the study was so skewed. Parents of children with autism were battling lawsuits with companies that produce vaccines. The lawyers of these parents were the ones that funded Wakefield’s research, giving him financial bias. So, as Wakefield is falsifying medical experiments for money, the rest of the world goes to controversy about vaccination.
An expecting mother, or a mother already, watching the news hears breaking news update that a medical experiment has concluded that vaccinated your child will have detrimental effects on their health. The fear the Wakefield instilled in people all over the globe was enormous. After the release of the paper, vaccination rates dropped significantly. In the UK, where the experiment took place, the vaccination rate was down to 83% in 2002, when the WHO’s recommended level is 95% for effective herd immunity. The UK’s decline was most detrimental, but it was not only the UK’s problem. With the amount of travel activity that takes place in the world today, countries are scared that an infected individual will bring the disease into the country. Epidemics are a great deal more likely to happen when there are less immunized people. Wakefield’s work has uprooted the ideas that medical professionals have instilled in their patients for decades, that vaccination will increase immunity to harmful diseases. Vaccinating children is the most effective way to prevent outbreaks of diseases in which some can never be cured!!
Landyn's Microbial World 