# The Facts In The Case of Dr Andrew Wakefield - a graphic tale



## StormFeather (May 24, 2010)

I knew some of the facts of this, but didn't realise just exactly how he came to do the research, what he put the kids through, and how much he'd received by doing it.

I also think this is a brilliant way to tell the story

tallguywrites: The Facts In The Case Of Dr. Andrew Wakefield


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## Ursa major (May 24, 2010)

Looks as if Ms J McCarthy never received her mumps jab....


* cough*



Thanks for that link, Stormfeather. And yes, a really good way to tell the story.


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## Starbeast (May 24, 2010)

Thank you for the information, it was incredible.


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## j d worthington (May 24, 2010)

And, as a result of this, since we have had a backlash against vaccination, the rise in measles and similar diseases (which had nearly been eradicated in modern industrialized societies), has been on the rise, along with their toll in infant mortality and miscarriages, etc.....

Yet again I state that we desperately need to improve our modern educational methods as concern science, critical thinking, and the ability to track down actual _facts_.... This is not an academic exercise; our very ability to function as a modern technological, physically healthier society depend on it....


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## skeptical (May 24, 2010)

A few statistics.

If a child is not vaccinated, he or she has a 50% chance of contracting measles.

If he/she has measles, there is a 1 in 1000 chance of dying from it, and a much larger chance of serious infection related harm, including brain damage.

So, if Wakefield's fraud prevents 2000 children being vaccinated, then one death is laid at his door.  (as an average).

How many children have died as a result of his fakery?


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## StormFeather (May 24, 2010)

All I can find so far in this story:

BBC News - Wakefield and autism: the story that will not go away

was that the first death from measles for over a decade was in 2006. 

I'm sure I remember there being an outbreak of measles last year, either at a secondary school or university type place (ie lots of students) where there was at least one death. Too tired to research it properly right now though.

I do so hope Dr Wakefield gets what he truly deserves


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## skeptical (May 24, 2010)

To give an idea of how serious measles can be we need to look at developing nations, and Africa in particular.

UNICEF - Immunization - Measles deaths decreased by more than half

I quote :

_"It costs around $1 to vaccinate a child against measles. Between 1999 and 2005, more than 360 million children under the age of 15 were immunized as a result of campaigns in 45 priority countries – the majority in Africa. In the same period the total number of deaths from measles fell from 873,000 to 345,000 a year._
_But in spite of the Measles Initiative’s success, the disease remains a leading cause of vaccine-preventable deaths among children. Over the coming years, increased attention will be paid to countries in South Asia with large numbers of measles deaths. The new goal is to achieve  a 90 per cent reduction in measles deaths worldwide by 2010."_

Without immunisation, those massively high death rates will return to plague the west also.


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## Ursa major (May 24, 2010)

Apparently (i.e. according to Wiki) measles was reclassified as endemic to the UK in 2008, the first time it had had this status since 1994. Not exactly a good thing, I'd suggest.


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## Pyan (May 24, 2010)

Not that I'm defending his methods, but I rather thought that it wasn't the vaccinations as such that he was against, but the lumping together of three of them in one big injection. He _advocated_ single measles jabs, so it seems unfair to lay the blame for deaths from the disease at his door - why didn't the NHS Trusts allow parents that were worried by his reports to have single-disease inoculations?


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## StormFeather (May 25, 2010)

Yes, he did advocate the single innoculation, but what I hadn't realised is that 9 months before this all came out, he'd applied for a patent for a single measles innoculation. With the MMR so widely used there would have been no way for his vaccination to be used.

And I believe that the NHS did eventually* provide single innoculations, but the take up by parents wasn't consistent - the number who actually ensured that their child received all of the required injections was actually quite small. So there are a lot of young adults out there who haven't received the full protection, hence the recent catch-up programmes of vaccinations in secondary schools to prevent possible outbreaks.

*they really didn't want to drop the MMR because they were worried that parents wouldn't subject their children to so many injections - and it seems they were right (I was still in contact with my colleagues in paediatrics at the time, and the frustration that most of them felt at the time was enormous)


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## ColdBurn (May 25, 2010)

Simple logic would suggest that if a link between MMR innoculation and autism or IBS actually existed, the occurence of these in children ought to be signifigantly higher given the widespread  use of the vaccines.


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## mosaix (May 25, 2010)

ColdBurn said:


> Simple logic would suggest that if a link between MMR innoculation and autism or IBS actually existed, the occurence of these in children ought to be signifigantly higher given the widespread  use of the vaccines.



Also, I believe that there was significant regional variation in the drop of the MMR uptake, so if there was a link there should also have been a corresponding drop in autism in those areas.


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## j d worthington (May 25, 2010)

skeptical said:


> A few statistics.
> 
> If a child is not vaccinated, he or she has a 50% chance of contracting measles.
> 
> ...


 


skeptical said:


> To give an idea of how serious measles can be we need to look at developing nations, and Africa in particular.
> 
> UNICEF - Immunization - Measles deaths decreased by more than half
> 
> ...


 
I'm not sure we can be certain how many deaths can be laid at his door, given the widespread effect the controversy begun by this has had, with celebrities and the like getting people to refuse vaccinations for the children... but it is notable that, while in 2000-2008 the incidence of measles and child-deaths due to preventable diseases in general fell, the measles-related incidence leveled off, and funding for programs has been cut in many countries, which has prompted concerns of at least a stalemate, possibly a resurgence, of such problems.

A simple overview from the CDC has this to say about what things were like in the U.S. pre-vaccination and currently:



> Before measles vaccine, nearly all children got measles by the time they were 15 years of age. Each year in the United States about 450 people died because of measles, 48,000 were hospitalized, 7,000 had seizures, and about 1,000 suffered permanent brain damage or deafness. Today there are only about 50 cases a year reported in the United States, and most of these originate outside the country.



More about concerns on this issue can be found here:

Global Measles Mortality, 2000--2008

And, according to this article (from 2002), measles accounted for 10% of child deaths below the age of 5 in developing countries.

Why We Need to Know Whether Prophylactic Antibiotics Can Reduce Measles-Related Morbidity -- Chalmers 109 (2): 312 -- Pediatrics

And yes, we've had a few outbreaks of measles recurring here again in the past few years because of avoidance of vaccinations as well. Nothing major yet, but given the unfoundedness of what began the whole thing, these, too, should be laid at his door....


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## J-WO (May 26, 2010)

One thing I don't understand. Whats with all these celebs behind an 'anti-vaccination' movement? Did that all happen because of Wakefield or was it something before and now they've co-opted him?

Oh, wait a minute... its not a Scientology thing is it?


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## mosaix (May 27, 2010)

J-WO said:


> One thing I don't understand. Whats with all these celebs behind an 'anti-vaccination' movement? Did that all happen because of Wakefield or was it something before and now they've co-opted him?
> 
> Oh, wait a minute... its not a Scientology thing is it?



My personal view, J-WO is that a lot of them want to give the impression that they are intelligent, deep thinking people with real opinions rather than the shallow numb-skulls that they really are. 

You only have to listen to a celeb attempting to answer a slightly off-topic question (anything not related to their latest film, book or CD) to realise just how dim most of them are.


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## nebsmith (May 27, 2010)

What's really annoying about all this is that it's been clearly shown that there is no link between MMR and autism.

Japan stopped using the MMR vaccine in the 90's, since then a study of 30,000 children has confirmed the lack of a link. Autism is still rising in Japan. This has been known since at least 2005.

There are articles about this in New Scientist if anyones interested.


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## StormFeather (May 27, 2010)

Just posted on New Scientist today:

Autism-MMR doctor is not giving up - health - 27 May 2010 - New Scientist

This guy is unbelievable.

And, because I've just been raiding the New Scientist for other information, the following might prove interesting:

More detail on the actual case:

Banned: doctor who linked MMR vaccine with autism - health - 24 May 2010 - New Scientist

And a couple of other studies - the one that Nebsmith mentions and another Danish study which looked at half a million children:

Autism rises despite MMR ban in Japan - health - 03 March 2005 - New Scientist

MMR and autism not linked, finds giant study - 07 November 2002 - New Scientist

And a final one - I found the comments just as interesting as the article:

MMR vaccine not linked to autism, says US court - health - 20 February 2009 - New Scientist


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## skeptical (May 28, 2010)

Those are excellent references, Stormfeather.  Thank you.


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## j d worthington (Jun 24, 2010)

Even the YouTubers are posting on this one:

YouTube - Vaccines and Autism: Part I- The Evidence (HD)

YouTube - Vaccines and Autism: Part 2- The Crime and Punishment (HD):


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## Dave (Jan 29, 2013)

And so it goes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21243345

But I expect Andrew Wakefield can still sleep at night.


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## mosaix (Jan 29, 2013)

StormFeather said:


> Yes, he did advocate the single innoculation, but what I hadn't realised is that 9 months before this all came out, he'd applied for a patent for a single measles innoculation. With the MMR so widely used there would have been no way for his vaccination to be used.



And this is the most disgraceful aspect of the whole affair. And he calls himself a doctor.


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