Was anyone on this forum alarmed by Wakefield's 1998 description of 12 case histories?

[mhatrw]

What exactly was his description of 12 cherry picked case histories supposed to prove?

Did anyone actually ever use Wakefield's research to argue here for a connection between the MMR vaccination and a newly discovered gastrointestinal/neurological complex?

Did anyone here ever refuse a MMR vaccination for his or her child because of Wakefield's 1998 description of 12 case histories in The Lancet? Did anyone's physician ever recommend against the MMR vaccination because of Wakefield's 1998 paper?

I'm just wondering. If anyone here did any of these things, please own up to your (or your doctor's) actions and tell us how the new allegations against Wakefield have affected your overall views on vaccine safety.

[Ilsa]

1. My views on vaxing have more to do with observing my son's reaction to vaccines.

His last one was a meningococcal vax. By that evening, he had a fever and was vomiting for 24 hours. His vax reactions in infancy were similar, not as much vomiting, usually mild fevers accompanied them.

Edited to add: he's autistic.

[Dorian Gray]

2. So....

it would have been wrong to be alarmed by his "findings?"

[mhatrw]

4. I'm just wondering because the first I ever heard of this study was when

Brian Deer started to criticize it.

[LeftishBrit]

3. I wasn't alarmed; I just thought it was a bad study

I was, however, alarmed at the irresponsibility of the media people, especially the Daily Mail journalists, who spread and hyped this scare,

[mhatrw]

5. I don't think that poot journalism ever really made it over to the US.

I can't imagine why anybody ever thought a clinical description of 12 cherry picked case histories actually proved anything about the MMR except perhaps the need for further research.

[trotsky]

6. Why should I care what a PROVEN fraud and LIAR says?

It is sad you are clinging to a known liar.

[mhatrw]

7. What's sad is the level of reading comprehension in our poor nation. n/t

[trotsky]

9. Naw, I'd say it's the sorry state of science education and lack of critical thinking. n/t

[LeftishBrit]

8. I don't know about the forum; but there was huge anxiety spread in the UK

There were many articles in the Daily Mail, and to some extent other papers like the Daily Telegraph, claiming a link between the MMR and autism, and that this was being 'suppressed' by the government.

Most of the campaign was on the right, with Melanie Phillips being a particularly notorious fearmonger; but some influential left-wingers fell for it too. In 2002, the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, who usually had more sense than that, announced that he would not be getting the MMR for his baby, and advised Londoners in his capacity as mayor not to do so either.