I remember the MMR controversy in the UK when, back in 1998, Dr Andrew Wakefield published a research paper in The Lancet that suggested a possible link between the triple vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and the diagnosis of autism. The problem seemed to be related to having all three vaccines administered together though a single injection. Significantly, the paper did not claim to have proven a causal relationship between MMR and autism but at the subsequent press conference, Dr Wakefield advised caution and suggested that use of the MMR vaccine should be suspended until more research could be done.
Due to the publicity surrounding the news story, parents became reluctant to let their children have the MMR vaccine. However, parents were not against the idea of vaccination itself; they just wanted a safer alternative and therefore pushed for three separate injections over a longer period of time. This seemed to me to be a good solution but I remember being shocked when the government refused to make this option available. Their argument was that parents would be less likely to bring their children to a clinic for all three injections, meaning that the children would be more at risk. This was a completely nonsensical argument because the reason why parents sought three separate injections was precisely because of their concern for their children and not because they were feckless and unlikely to go through with the treatment. As a result, MMR vaccination rates dropped and Dr Andrew Wakefield was blamed for the increased infection rates that followed. After this, Dr Andrew Wakefield was discredited and struck off as a doctor by the British General Medical Council (GMC) but the controversy over the MMR vaccine has continued. Since then, Andrew Wakefield has been involved in the production of a film about autism called Vaxxed. It is a film that proves that Andrew Wakefield’s research should have been taken more seriously because following the original controversy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, was tasked with conducting its own research into the matter. Years later, when the CDC published its results, it declared to have scientifically proved that there was no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. That would have been the end of the matter had a CDC insider and whistle blower not come forward to claim that the CDC had committed fraud by deliberately ‘adjusting’ their results to take away a link that had been discovered. You would think then, that the mainstream media would be all over this story because the consequence for the health of children is massive. Yet, few people know that this even happened. The minimal coverage that the main stream media gave to the Vaxxed film was primarily focussed on re-asserting that Andrew Wakefield cannot be trusted, that medical scientists know best and that anyone who doubts them must be stupid. When you watch the film there are certain things that stand out, which in my case, convinces me that we are not being told the truth. They are as follows:
The sky rocketing rates of autism suggest that there is an urgent need to get to the bottom of what is happening. Science is not always black and white because there are assumptions that underlie medical research and its subsequent findings and conclusions. These need to be heavily scrutinised and if it means challenging established views, then that is what is necessary to resolve the issue. It is also worth noting that there is a great deal of money in the pharmaceutical industry and we cannot rule out the possibility that financial interests may have impacted outcomes in a way that is detrimental to the public interest. The Vaxxed film below is a version that includes Spanish subtitles (the video that I originally used included French subtitles but has since been taken down, which may be an indication of how controversial this subject is) but it is still worth watching and you can then come to your own conclusions on this subject. At the end of the film, there are 4 recommendations and you have to ask yourself why none of them have been implemented.
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