to think that there is a witch hunt against Andrew Wakefield?

[MagalyZz]

I just can't believe that they're still gunning for this guy!?

Whatever you make of his research, it WAS his research and he found what he found and he should be allowed to "suggest a link"

I have a child on the spectrum who had the MMR and I do not think the MMR had anything to do with it, but I do believe Dr Wakefield that a tiny percentage of people do react very badly to this vaccine.

Leave the guy alone ffs!!

Southwall should have been struck off. It is outrageous that he wasn't.

I don't think Wakefield being right or being wrong is the issue. If he was right and many children did not develop various issues as a result, that would not justify carrying out procedures on children without the approval of an ethics committee.

wannabe, I don't think it's 'overloading their immune system' by vaccinating against several diseases at once. It's to do with MMR strain measles virus ending up in the gut of children with gut disease + autism. Think the theory was that maybe in children with 'leaky' guts MMR somehow triggered a predisposition to autism? (I forget the details, it's been a long time since I had to research this for ds.)

My DS had everything except the swine flu vaccine last autumn because he had already been quite ill from suspected swine flu in the summer but of course no doctor would look at him at the time. He was "prescribed" Tamiflu which was thrown out as he got better quite quickly. Why offer a soon to be out of date vaccine if you don't know if the child has had the illness recently or not?

My friend tried to get singles for her ds the same age and has been told that there is no mumps one available any more. But from what has been said here, probably for the best if catching mumps as a child gives lifelong immunity. Not sure who he is going to catch it from early though as MMR take-up is good in this area.

Milly, he was struck off over a separate issue, but the High Court said the GMC was wrong and sent it back for them to think again (and the GMC said ooh, we'll back down). Separate issue was telling the cops Sally Clarke's husband was a child killer after watching a TV documentary. As if the poor (older) child hadn't suffered enough losing her mother, Southall went after the father, too. Tragic story, poor woman died a few years after being cleared - think alcholism was involved.

Even if he was right he should have been struck off. You can't ignore the guidelines, cut corners and experiment willy nilly on children because you've got a hunch.

Mumps is a horrible painful illness- I wouldnt want anyone to catch it no matter how much immunity it gives them in future!

Milday - plenty of mumps going around at ds2's university. Your friend should take her ds along to her nearest campus.

WannBe - your explanation is incorrect. There are very good reasons why we have not seen a massive descent into measles epidemics because of the drops so far. However it has been enough to stymie the WHOs attempts to eradicate this disease (not too clever for anyone concerned), and could see such a descent if the trend does not reverse.

All you need do is look at the effectiveness on mortality when vaccines were introduced to see what a change they can and do make.

You are also factually inaccurate on the point of vaccine "overload". This is nothing but a myth put about by antivaccination campaigners and which is based on no evidence except their own opinion and shows a very poor understanding of how the immune system works. So why repeat it?

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Redwine - tis alot worse in your average 19 year-old. And is on the increase in that age group despite them supposedly being protected by MMR.

For info - last year MMR1 coverage 91.6% of children and MMR2 83% by aged 5 HPA reportSee table on p13

He did not conduct research into a link between MMR and autism. He produced case studies of 12 - count them, 12 - children who had autism and who had also had the MMR jab.

No one has yet been able to produce a proper research study that replicates any such link.

12- wow huge sample size

How are vaccines safely developed for our babies without experimentation?

Are they tested on chimps, "expendable" babies or what?

Is it ethical to see what mortality rates are amongst subjects of new vaccines?

Honestly interested. How do they do such a thing ethically?

How are guidelines normally implemented when a scientist has a hunch that a vaccine is the way to go?

Look, we all know the real reason he was struck off was for causing the row about MMR. It's nothing to do with research ethics or practice. It's because the government and medical establishment are furious. Whether or not you think there was something in Wakefield's theory or not is a side issue.

I've seen the govt. and medical authorities on the attack and it's not pretty. Different issue - Glaxo hid reports of Seroxat being linked to an increased risk of suicide especially amongst young people. The Royal College of Psychiatrists and Dept. of Health rubbished anyone who dared to suggest there could possibly be any problems at all with SSRIs.

Turns out they were wrong but they only admitted it very reluctantly faced with overwhelming evidence after a very lengthy delay - a delay which meant people died unnecessarily.

sagger why are teenagers getting mumps? Take-up of MMR or not having caught it as children?

Milady, I am not sure. But isn't there a process of cells, non-human animals, humans who have signed up to participate in trials and then the general public?

so what do you tell the parent of a child who has regressed following mmr? Seriously - I want to know. Would you tell them that there's no link?

Because there are children who have regressed following mmr. It might be that it hasn't been proven, although there is a vaccine damage fund so someone somewhere must be listening.

Seeker, his original press conference at the Royal Free didn't claim 'this is research about a link between MMR and autism' - he merely described what he had found. And said he thought there should be more research. (Which is what every study ever published has said.) His big mistake was answering honestly when a journalist asked 'so, should children have single jabs instead' instead of giving the usual response full of qualifiers.

(And case studies are part of the research hierarchy - they aren't accorded the same weight as RCTs, obviously, but they are still research. Very limited research but still research.)

Sorry, Leonie, what maths? I've seen a video of Wakefield saying that he paid kids for blood samples at a birthday party. That's hardly down to Glaxo is it?

Video here, by the way www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTHDKNEx3lo

teens are catching mumps because the vaccine is ineffective. It only lasts for a period which means you're more likely to catch it when you're in your teenage years and most vulnerable.

It seems that the mumps part of MMR possibly does not provide lifelong immunity. Anecdotally my nephew and 3 of his friends contracted mumps at university this winter. They are 18/19 and all of them had had MMR and the later catch-up booster.