Vaccines...who are you going to believe?
In one corner, we have Jenny McCarthy, former Playboy Playmate of the Year, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, and pseudoscience with an extra dose of quackery. In the other corner, we have the Centers for Disease Control, the Institute of Medicine for the National Academy of Sciences, UK’s National Health Service, and the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (what is commonly called the Vaccine Court). The battle is over MMR vaccine, a mixture of three live attenuated viruses administered by injection for immunization against measles, mumps and rubella (formerly known as German measles).
Let’s take a close look at the participants. First, Jenny McCarthy, whose extensive medical and science education includes....not much. In 2005, she announced that her child was diagnosed with autism, a diagnosis about which there is some doubt. McCarthy believes that vaccines caused her son’s autism, although that view is unsupported by any scientific or medical evidence. Her public appearances and statements have increased the public perception of this link, and may have led to decreased immunization rates and increased incidence of measles. McCarthy has stated that chelation therapy helped her son recover from autism. Essentially, McCarthy claims that mercury in vaccines causes autism, which has been rejected by scientific and clinical studies. In fact, the National Institute of Mental Health has concluded that autistic children will not receive any benefit to balance the risks of cognitive and emotional problems induced by the chelating agents used in this treatment. Really, she should stick to modeling and bad movies.
Dr. Andrew Wakefield is a whole different story. He, and 12 other researchers, published a paper in the British medical journal in 1998, The Lancet, which reported on 12 (yes 12) children with developmental disorders. They linked eight of these children to MMR vaccinations. The paper described several bowel symptoms and the possible link to the vaccine. He even gave a name to the syndrome, autistic enterocolitis. After publication of the paper, confidence in the MMR vaccine fell; pediatricians in the United Kingdom thought the British government was either hiding evidence of the link, or was failing to prove it.
But soon, Wakefield and his seminal study would be in disrepute:
This might be an intellectual or philosophical discussion of science, except for one major problem. Vaccination rates have dropped in the UK, to as low as 85%. In 2006, there were 449 cases of measles in the UK. Before Wakefield’s report, there were only 56 cases in the UK in 1998. In the US, there have been measles outbreaks attributed to the falling vaccination rate (falling from 98% to 92% in a few years).
So, when it comes to medicine and science, we shouldn’t listen to Playboy Playmates. What worries me is what do we do when a scientist and professional like Andrew Wakefield publishes an article that sets the medical world on its respective head? What if he was right? It’s clear science and clinical research works best in an open atmosphere, which allowed the science to set aside the pseudoscience. And it happened quite quickly.
Go get your children vaccinated. The risk from measles far outweighs the non-risk of autism.
By Michael W Simpson
Let’s take a close look at the participants. First, Jenny McCarthy, whose extensive medical and science education includes....not much. In 2005, she announced that her child was diagnosed with autism, a diagnosis about which there is some doubt. McCarthy believes that vaccines caused her son’s autism, although that view is unsupported by any scientific or medical evidence. Her public appearances and statements have increased the public perception of this link, and may have led to decreased immunization rates and increased incidence of measles. McCarthy has stated that chelation therapy helped her son recover from autism. Essentially, McCarthy claims that mercury in vaccines causes autism, which has been rejected by scientific and clinical studies. In fact, the National Institute of Mental Health has concluded that autistic children will not receive any benefit to balance the risks of cognitive and emotional problems induced by the chelating agents used in this treatment. Really, she should stick to modeling and bad movies.
Dr. Andrew Wakefield is a whole different story. He, and 12 other researchers, published a paper in the British medical journal in 1998, The Lancet, which reported on 12 (yes 12) children with developmental disorders. They linked eight of these children to MMR vaccinations. The paper described several bowel symptoms and the possible link to the vaccine. He even gave a name to the syndrome, autistic enterocolitis. After publication of the paper, confidence in the MMR vaccine fell; pediatricians in the United Kingdom thought the British government was either hiding evidence of the link, or was failing to prove it.
But soon, Wakefield and his seminal study would be in disrepute:
- In February 2004, a newspaper article established that Wakefield had received funding from attorneys who were seeking evidence to use in litigation against vaccine manufacturers. Wakefield failed to tell The Lancet, his co-authors, and others of his conflict of interest.
- In March 2004, 10 of the twelve co-authors of the paper retracted the interpretation that MMR vaccine caused autism.
- In November 2004, it became public that Wakefield had patented a vaccine that would compete with MMR, and that his own laboratory had test results that contradicted his claims about the link.
- Very recently, The Sunday Times reported that Wakefield had manipulated the data and misreported results, all to create the appearance of a link between MMR vaccine. (To be fair, Wakefield has denied these allegations.)
- Last week, the Vaccine Court ruled against the plaintiffs in three cases, concluding that the evidence presented did not validate their claims that vaccinations caused autism.
- A recent review of studies of the links between vaccines and autism find that there is no scientific support for the link.
This might be an intellectual or philosophical discussion of science, except for one major problem. Vaccination rates have dropped in the UK, to as low as 85%. In 2006, there were 449 cases of measles in the UK. Before Wakefield’s report, there were only 56 cases in the UK in 1998. In the US, there have been measles outbreaks attributed to the falling vaccination rate (falling from 98% to 92% in a few years).
So, when it comes to medicine and science, we shouldn’t listen to Playboy Playmates. What worries me is what do we do when a scientist and professional like Andrew Wakefield publishes an article that sets the medical world on its respective head? What if he was right? It’s clear science and clinical research works best in an open atmosphere, which allowed the science to set aside the pseudoscience. And it happened quite quickly.
Go get your children vaccinated. The risk from measles far outweighs the non-risk of autism.
By Michael W Simpson