“In the decade before 1963 when a vaccine became available, nearly all children got measles by the time they were 15 years of age. It is estimated 3 to 4 million people in the United States were infected each year. Also each year an estimated 400 to 500 people died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 4,000 suffered encephalitis (swelling of the brain) from measles.”[1]
By 2000 measles had nearly disappeared in the United States. But in recent years the number of cases has increased dramatically.
The dramatic increase in measles cases is matched by a corresponding drop in the vaccination rate.
Who is to blame?
In February 1998 Andrew Wakefield published a study in the Lancet, a prestigious medical journal, linking autism with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.[2] The study included only 12 cases, far too few to draw any conclusions. But it turned out that the study was not simply bad science, it was outright fraud.[3]
Within the medical community the study was quickly dismissed with an overwhelming preponderance of evidence that the vaccine was both effective and safe. But this story of fraudulent science did not end.
The media decided it was a good story. In their perverse logic fair and balanced reporting has come to be defined as finding two opposing positions on an issue and treating them as if they were equally valid.
In this case, on one side was a fraudulent study by a disgraced researcher[4] and on the other the world’s medical research community. And yet the media treated this as a “controversy.”[5]
So, who is to blame for the dramatic increase in measles? The answer is clear, blame the media.
Additional links that might be of interest.
Amy Parker, Growing Up Unvaccinated, January 6, 2014, Slate
“I had the healthiest childhood imaginable. And yet I was sick all the time.”
“Voices for Vaccines (VFV) is a parent-driven organization supported by scientists, doctors, and public health officials that provides parents clear, science-based information about vaccines and vaccine-preventable disease, as well as an opportunity to join the national discussion about the importance of on-time vaccination.”
[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Measles History, retrieved 3/13/15
[2] Wakefield AJ, Murch SH, Anthony A et al. “Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children“, (28 February 1998), Lancet 351(9103): 637–41. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-0.PMID 9500320. (Retracted)
[3] Godlee F, Smith J, Marcovitch H, “Wakefield’s article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent”, January 6, 2011, BMJ342: c7452. doi:10.1136/bmj.c7452. PMID 21209060.
[4] Deer, Brian. “General Medical Council, Fitness to Practice Panel Hearing, 28 January 2010, Andrew Wakefield, John Walker-Smith & Simon Murch” (PDF). briandeer.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2010.
[5] John Snyder, Vaccines and the Media: No Room for Balance, September 2, 2009, Science-Based Medicine