MMR Vaccine and Autism: Debunking the Controversial Link

Autism 1
Autism
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Autism 2
Autism
MMR vaccine helps in preventing mumps, measles and rubella. Donaldson, Rutter and
Scally (2011, p. 78) affirms that, this vaccine was introduced in 1988 to replace a single vaccine
for each disease in the UK. Children in the UK were given this vaccine as part of their
immunization program to prevent them from getting these diseases. However, worries about the
dangers of the vaccine came after a study conducted by Wakefield which showed that it is
connected with autism. Autism is a condition whereby a person develops a broad range of
conditions characterized by impairment in social skills and repetitive behaviors. It is in most
cases referred to as autism spectrum disorder due to a wide range of symptoms.
A research conducted by a group of British scientist in 1995 showed that people who
received measles -mumps-rubella vaccine were more likely to get bowel disease than those not
vaccinated (Stewart and Akunjee 2016, p. 90). One of these researchers went into a further study
to know the relationship between the vaccine and the bowl diseases and speculated that the
insistent infection with the vaccine virus caused distraction in the intestinal tissue which in turn
led to neuropsychiatric diseases which is referred to as autism.
Moreover, in 1998 Wakefield together with other researchers published a case study in
lancet saying that they found evidence about the relationship between MMR vaccine and autism
in not less than 12 cases they researched (Godlee, Smith and Marcovitch 2011, p. 23). In this
case, they found that children who had received MMR vaccination of measles virus had started
exhibiting autism symptoms. Wakefield then suspended the use of MMR in favor of a single
antigen measles vaccine.
People reacted immediately to the Wakefield’s publication because the press people
widely covered the news and threatened them about the MMR vaccination. Due to this
publication, many parents completely abandoned the MMR vaccination and this made its
demand rate to go down in the United States and Britain.
However, over the next 12 years the relationship between autism and MMR vaccination
was studied again by Brian Deer and other researchers and they found out that Wakefield’s
findings were fraudulent (The Editors of the Lancet, 2010). They claimed that he wanted to file a