How important would you say getting vaccinated is? Most say pretty important, but according to Andrew Wakefield’s study in 1998, vaccines may not be worth it, as there is a strong correlation between the MMR vaccine and developing autism. MMR is an attenuated vaccine that protects against mumps, measles, and varicella infections, and in turn reduces the risk of many secondary infections that may be fatal. Two doses of the vaccination leads to 97% protection against measles and rubella and 88% protection against mumps. With the introduction of the vaccination in 1971, there is an estimated 21 million prevented deaths.
After Wakefield released his study, many problems arose, and in turn, more studies were released refuting his claim and proving him incorrect. 10 out of 12 of his co-authors, retracted their claims and admitted to fraud in the study’s research. The link between the MMR vaccine and autism development was proved to be nonexistent. It was discovered that Wakefield had different motives than to be making a medical breakthrough. Wakefield was paid by a law firm who was engaged in a lawsuit against a vaccination company, obviously giving him an incentive to prove vaccines were doing more harm than good.
In creating his false claim, Wakefield tested, unethically, on 12 children. He found that the measles, mumps, and varicella vaccination lead to gastrointestinal disease and developmental regression. This find is more likely to be due to correlation and not causation. The MMR vaccine is given in two shots, one at age 12-15 months, and the other between 4 and 6 years old. This is the age in which autism signs begin to show, making it believable that there is a link between the two, but in reality, it’s just the age.
Even with all the proof and extensive research proving Wakefield a fraud and his theory incorrect, people still continue to not vaccinate their children because of the small chance they might develop autism. Even though there is a cheap vaccine for measles, there were still 110,000 deaths in 2017. This then, increased to 140,000 in 2018, although the US was completely eradicated in 2000 due to the vaccine. Measles infects the respiratory tract and is spread by direct contact and droplet nuclei. When someone with measles passes through an area, the infection remains on a surface or in the air for up to two hours, causing infection to anyone who goes through. Vaccines are highly effective and are harmless, meaning Andrew Wakefield’s study caused many problems to the world.
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