Andrew Wakefield and a group of his colleagues posted a paper in the Lancet that indicated that the MMR vaccine causes developmental disorders in children, most notably, autism. After this, the frequency of vaccination declined because parents were worried that it would harm their kids. Since the paper was published in 1998, over twenty different studies have been conducted to test the hypotheses made by Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues. These researchers have proven that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism or any other known developmental issues. Unlike Wakefield, they used a very large sample size and non-specific cohort to affirm their theories.
Andrew Wakefield had a sample size of 12 children in his study. After investigation, it was disclosed that this group was not chosen at random. The cohort consisted of children that had signs of autism within one month of receiving the MMR vaccine. This is obviously problematic because he did not include any other children who did NOT show signs of autism after receiving the MMR vaccine. Once the article received widespread attention, many of his colleagues retracted the claims that were made in the paper. Furthermore, it was revealed that Wakefield had financial interests that motivated him to publish the document. His research has not been able to be verified by any other scientists because there is no substantial evidence that links this vaccine to developmental disorders in children. He was convicted of fraud because he only included the information from the study that would support his own case.
https://cheezburger.com/7597283584
Currently, About 86% of people get their 1st measles dose and 69% of people get their 2nd measles dose. A map revealed that the rates of vaccination are much lower in developing and poor countries. There has been a 99.99% reduction in measles, a 97.4% reduction in mumps and a 99.98% reduction in rubella since the invention of the vaccine. Although this data is very significant, many people believe that it is no longer as important to receive vaccinations for these diseases because they have been “eradicated” from the population. “Most individuals think that the global vaccination coverage today is as low as it was in the 1980s or even earlier” (Samantha Vanderslott, Bernadeta Dadonaite and Max Roser). This is troublesome because, although close, the diseases are not completely eliminated from the population. It is possible that there will be another upsurge in the cases of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella if parents do not continue to get their children vaccinated in a timely manner!
Isley's Blog 