> The paper didn't "try to discredit the MMR vaccine"
Smells like an attempt to discredit MMR to me:
According to a major investigative feature by Brian Deer, in 1996 Dr Wakefield was retained by the solicitor Richard Barr to carry out investigations on a number of children with autism and bowel problems (1). The object of these investigations was to confirm parents' claims that their children's behavioural and digestive symptoms had been caused by the MMR vaccine, so that they could claim compensation from the vaccine manufacturers.
It appears that four or five of the children included in the series of 12 cases reported in the Lancet were in the group represented by Barr.
To decide whether to use a vaccine that can eliminate 40,000 annual cases of Polio and the only side effect might be it could be harmful to a few people is a no brainer.
To use your own words, sure vaccines can harm a very small number of people, but that same vaccine will be extremely beneficial to huge numbers of people.
"We have identified a chronic enterocolitis in children that may be related to neuropsychiatric dysfunction. In most cases, onset of symptoms was after measles, mumps, and rubella immunisation. Further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to this vaccine. "
It was a study of twelve (12!) children! To credit Wakefield with sole responsibility of the "MMR scare" over that simple statement is crazy. There is no way that Wakefield's paper single-handedly sparked and sustained this debacle for some fifteen years now.
What really smells in this affair is Brian Deer, a journalist in the employ of a director of GSK (James Murdoch), who himself made the initial report against Wakefield et al to the British GMC while simultaneously reporting on the scandal (while denying that he had anything to do with the initial report). As bad as Wakefield's paper was, it was nothing compared to the farce that followed in the form of the GMC hearings, BMJ's character assassination, and later retraction[2] The whole thing is a farce from one end to the other.
>The simple fact is vaccination works.
Of course it does. Stop with the straw man already. But, vaccines aren't flawless. They aren't perfectly safe, and in some cases the risks outweigh the benefits. Effort should be concentrated on perfecting vaccines, not denial of fallibility. Until then, a proper weighting of risks and benefits is required.
>People need to get over it and get vaccinated.
Shall we sign you up for Gardasil, and perhaps the new Acne vaccine? Have you had a Rotavirus booster? Of course you have. Better safe than sorry!
Smells like an attempt to discredit MMR to me:
According to a major investigative feature by Brian Deer, in 1996 Dr Wakefield was retained by the solicitor Richard Barr to carry out investigations on a number of children with autism and bowel problems (1). The object of these investigations was to confirm parents' claims that their children's behavioural and digestive symptoms had been caused by the MMR vaccine, so that they could claim compensation from the vaccine manufacturers.
It appears that four or five of the children included in the series of 12 cases reported in the Lancet were in the group represented by Barr.
http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA40D.htm
> Thankfully, people back then weren't afraid to notice that the first generation of Polio vaccines actually gave Polio to some who took them.
I'm sure they knew. I'm sure they also knew that for children Polio caused paralysis in about 1 in 1000 cases.
They may well have feared the vaccine, but I suspect their fear of the consequences of Polio were far greater.
The simple fact is vaccination works. Just look how Polio has been effectively irradiated thanks to vaccination:
http://www.post-polio.org/ir-usa.html
Edit: Statistics below from page above
Total Polio Cases
From: 1937 - 1997 = 457,088
From: 1998 - 2008 = 1
To decide whether to use a vaccine that can eliminate 40,000 annual cases of Polio and the only side effect might be it could be harmful to a few people is a no brainer.
To use your own words, sure vaccines can harm a very small number of people, but that same vaccine will be extremely beneficial to huge numbers of people.
People need to get over it and get vaccinated.