Andrew Wakefield claimed that the MMR lead to behavioral regression and developmental disorders in children. However, there were a multitude of problems with his research that backed this claim. The evidence that Wakefield presented in support of his theory was very insubstantial and it was clear that he had leaped to conclusions in order to prove his point. Wakefield worked with 12 of his colleagues on this study and they backed his research, however his research was never validated by any outside independent parties. While his research was never verified by others, almost immediately following his findings’ publishing, epidemiological studies were done that disproved his theory that MMR vaccine and autism were linked.
Wakefield used an extremely small sample size of only 12 children for his study, in addition his study was not controlled, he only looked at children who had already developed regressive developmental disorders. Wakefield also exploited the fact that MMR vaccination are already normally linked due to both occurring in early childhood. Many children get the MMR vaccination around the same time autism presents itself, so a number of children will develop autism after getting vaccinated simply by coincidence. Due to these flaws in his experimental design the paper was retracted and it was later discovered that Wakefield’s motivation publishing the paper were money-related. He was funded by lawyers who were working with parents involved in lawsuits against vaccine-producing companies. To make matters worse for Wakefield, he was found guilty of fraud, due to the fact that he falsified information and hand-picked data that suited his needs. It is my opinion that Wakefield did all of this for money and publicity, he did not do any actual research and his reputation as a physician and researcher has taken a big hit because of this event.
Recently, there has been a mumps outbreak in America, the largest one in over a decade. In response to this outbreak many organizations are pushing for people to get vaccinated. The Health Service Executive is promoting people between the ages of 11 and 30 to get 2 doses of the MMR vaccine, this group has been hit the hardest by the recent outbreak. Some student health services and general practitioners are offering the vaccination free of charge. I believe offering free vaccinations is a great way to get more people to vaccinate themselves and their children. The University of Texas is going to start requiring proof of MMR vaccination for students in fall of 2020 in an effort to stop the outbreak from spreading to their campus. The recent outbreak has some people scared and is forcing more emphasis on vaccination, which will help us in the long run.
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