The Los Angeles Times posted an article today about The Wakefield Study, the study of the relationship between children's MMR vaccines and autism, published in the Lancet Medical Journal in 1998. The Lancet Medical Journal has retracted the study.
"The Wakefield study seems to have had worse consequences in Britain, where vaccinations declined dramatically after its publication, than in this country. Even so, the anti-vaccination movement it unleashed -- one that has been amplified by the Internet and a culture of skepticism toward mainstream medicine -- certainly influenced decisions by parents in the U.S. not to have their children vaccinated. It's hard to believe, for example, that anti-vaccine propaganda played no part in recent increases in measles cases or in the number of parents seeking "personal belief" exemptions from vaccinating their children."
One of the comments I came across in researching this article was a comment by a doctor who observed that the initial symptoms of autism usually show up at about the same age that children are getting these vaccines, so it might appear in some cases that there is a relationship between the two. I can understand how parents looking for a solution to a very difficult problem would draw the connection, but a scientist should be more careful.
Hopefully, now that this study has been proven false, more children will get these vaccines and avoid the diseases they prevent.
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