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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
MMR and autism
TODAY’S Irish Daily Mail (January 20) contains an article by the celebrated Fiona Looney, explaining her decision to get her children vaccinated with the MMR vaccine and, in the process, attacking Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s study that showed a possible link of autism to the MMR.
She states: “Wakefield’s research had been utterly discredited… it wasn’t just flawed; it was ultimately proved fiction.” However, Jackie Fletcher, director of JABS, a UK support group for vaccine-damaged children, denounced these attacks on Dr. Wakefield: “It has been an absolute witch hunt. All he was guilty of was listening to what parents said, clinically investigating the children and then reporting his findings. All he did was hold up a red flag and say, “There’s something going on that needs to be investigated.”
In the midst of this mounting controversy over an apparent link between the MMR and autism, Dr. Wakefield was fired from his post at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School in London. He stated: “I have been asked to go because my research results are unpopular. I did not wish to leave but I have agreed to stand down in the hope that my going will take the political pressure off my colleagues and allow them to get on with the job of looking after the many sick children we have seen.”
Many parents, especially those involved in his research, were angry at the hospital’s decision. But Wakefield added, “I have not done anything wrong. I have no intention of stopping my investigations.” In fact, he was hired as the Director of Autism Research for the International Child Development Resource Center in Florida, USA. His new post completed a world-class team of autism specialists.
The Sunday Express discovered evidence that UK health officials failed to warn of serious risks linked with the MMR jab before it was introduced. According to a secret dossier, five cases were reported of potentially deadly brain inflammation following the use of the MMR in Canada before it became part of standard childhood vaccinations in the UK. Dr. Peter Fletcher, former Chief Scientific Officer at the Department of Health, was also sceptical about the UK government’s position and the safety of the MMR triple jab. In one interview, he said: “The refusal by governments to evaluate the risks properly will make this one of the greatest scandals in medical history.”
In November, 2003, Dr. Wakefield was one of the speakers at an Autism conference in Dallas, Texas, during which he related that he once hand-delivered well-designed studies to a top Merck executive – the firm that produced the MMR vaccine – imploring him to examine the data that strongly suggested a link between the measles virus and autism. In a follow-up conversation with this executive, Wakefield asked: “Did you bother to read any of those studies I gave you?” The official tersely replied: “We don’t have to.” ‘We don’t have to’? Apparently, that ignorant response reflects the attitude of all those well-meaning people who promote or support the MMR vaccination of Irish babies and children.
From: Patrick J. Carroll,
Lady Lane House,
Waterford.
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