Introduction
Andrew Wakefield is a doctor who studied the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR vaccine) and incorrectly implied that the vaccine caused autism. His claims are summarized in a VeryWell Health article. Since publishing his study that held an anti-vaccination stance, Wakefield has had his medical license revoked and his paper on the link between autism and the MMR vaccine retracted. In my opinion, losing his medical license is a justifiable punishment since he made incorrect conclusions and due to his status as a doctor, a portion of public trusted his findings leading to the illogical anti-vaccination movement.
1998 Study
The study that Wakefield conducted in 1998 was published in The Lancet, which is a popular British medical journal. In his study, he examined 12 children. All kids had autism and had received the MMR vaccine, which resulted in him suggesting that there was a link between the two. From his study, an anti-vaccination movement was born leading to parents deciding not to vaccinate their children because of the fear that they will develop autism. However, microbiologists teach us that the best way for our immune systems to be able to fight off different infections and diseases, we must be introduced to those diseases so we are prepared to fight them off, and vaccinations are the best way to do so.
Controversy
The largest controversy from Wakefield’s study comes from the fact it was not ethical sound. Wakefield was planning on profiting from litigation driven testing by founding a company that would take advantage of the public’s fear of vaccinations. More controversy comes from the fact that Wakefield’s findings were not verified by other scientists. As a college student, I am constantly told to ensure that any information I am using for an assignment comes from a reliable source and can be verified by other sources. Wakefield should have paid attention to these two pieces of advice before making claims that were not supported by scientific proof. In addition, 10 out of 13 of Wakefield’s co-authors disavowed the article, which reiterates the idea that his conclusions were not supported by sufficient evidence.
Measles, Mumps, and Varicella
The World Health Organization declares that most measles, mumps, and varicella vaccines are live attenuated. This means that the infectious agent is still alive within the vaccination, but it has a reduced virulence so that it is not harmful. While there are vaccines strains for individual vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella, the MMR vaccine contains a combination of the vaccines strains of the three diseases. In addition the MR vaccine combines vaccine strains of measles and rubella, and the MMRV vaccine combines strains from measles, mumps, rubella, and the varicella Zoster virus. I feel as though the MMRV vaccine is the best vaccine to get, if available, since it will provide the stimulation of antibodies for four different diseases.
While the MMR vaccine does not cause autism, as Andrew Wakefield claimed, local reactions are not uncommon to occur following a vaccination. However, reactions are usually mild and temporary, such as fever, pain at injection site, rash, and occasional serious allergic reactions. Even though these side effects occur relatively frequently, they by no means outweigh the severe consequences of choosing to not receive vaccinations. Actually getting measles, mumps, or rubella and not having the antibodies ready to fight off these infections are the extremely serious consequences of not getting vaccinated. I am thankful my parents had the sense to take me to the doctor as a child to receive all of my vaccinations because now I am still alive and capable of writing this blog.
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