Autism Vaccine Controversy in the News Again

The supposed link between autism and vaccines has never been scientifically proven. Almost a year ago the medical journal that published the flawed paper fully retracted it. So why am I seeing news stories about the autism vaccine controversy now? It appears there is more to be learned about the dishonesty of the paper's main author. The British Medical Journal is set to reveal how the author of the paper "altered numerous facts about the patients' medical histories in order to support his claim to have identified a new syndrome" and how his employers at the time "supported him as he sought to exploit the ensuing MMR scare for financial gain."

Need a program to follow the melodrama? Here is a brief outline of the major events in the autism vaccine controversy.

1998: Paper Links Autism to MMR Vaccine

British doctor Andrew Wakefield publishes an article in the Lancet that links the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism. Wakefield fails to disclose that he has been paid richly by an anti-vaccine lobby group, and that he himself is attempting to profit from the development of a rival measles vaccine.

2004: Some Authors Retract Support for Autism Vaccine Link

Ten co-authors retract their support for the paper's conclusion that the MMR vaccine causes autism.

2007: Fitness to Practice Questioned

The British General Medical Council (GMC) convenes a panel to investigate the remaining authors' fitness to practice medicine.

2010: Autism Vaccine Controversy Author Unfit to Practice Medicine

GMC panel concludes that "Dr Wakefield's misconduct not only collectively amounts to serious professional misconduct . . . but also . . . constitutes multiple separate instances of serious professional misconduct." The panel decides to remove Wakefield's medical license, "the only sanction that is appropriate to protect patients and is in the wider public interest . . . and is proportionate to the serious and wide-ranging findings made against him."

2010: Lancet Retracts 1998 Paper

The medical journal fully retracts the paper, which in the words of the GMC has "had major implications for public health."

1999-2006: Studies Fail to Show Vaccine Autism Link

Numerous studies are made to prove the vaccine autism link, many of which include thousands of subjects. No link between vaccines and autism can be proven.

2010: Decreased Vaccination Rates Linked to Increase in Measles

Twelve years after the publication of the flawed paper, parents are still refusing vaccines because of the autism controversy. In some communities vaccine uptake drops drastically below that needed to achieve herd immunity. Measles outbreaks are observed in the UK, continental Europe, and North America.

1999-2011: Fraud Draws Attention Away from Needed Research and Assistance

The editors of the British Medical Journal write that "perhaps as important as the scare's effect on infectious disease is the energy, emotion, and money that have been diverted away from efforts to understand the real causes of autism and how to help children and families who live with it."

As the mother of an autistic son born in the wake of the autism vaccine scare, this statement probably struck me harder than anything else I have read about the false claims linking autism to vaccines. So much of our focus these last twelve years has been on demonstrating there is no link between autism and the MMR vaccine.

It gave me pause when I read this statement, and I had to wonder how many talented researchers have spent years trying to undo the panic caused by misinformation. How many of them might otherwise have been devoting themselves to looking into what causes autism, or into better documenting the treatment approaches that help kids like my son? What a waste, for anyone to have to work so hard to disprove something that was never adequately demonstrated in the first place.

Sources:

G. Michael Allan, MD CCFP and Noah Ivers, MD CCFP, "The autism-vaccine story: Fiction and deception?." Canadian Family Physician

Fiona Godlee, Jane Smith and Harvey Marcovitch, "Wakefield's article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent." British Medical Journal

"Fitness to practice panel hearing - Wakefield, Walker-Smith, Murch" and "Determination of Serious Professional Misconduct (SPM) and sanction - Wakefield." General Medical Council