Truth Be Told

By far one of the most important values to uphold in the scientific world is the reality, or truth, of the results of one’s research. This value was tested in Andrew Wakefield’s claim concerning the connection between the MMR vaccine and autism. A bold, but empty, claim like this not only makes the scientific community appear untrusting to the public, but can also influence the public’s opinions and decisions on these important matters. While this paper has finally been retracted, the effects of this falsehood still has lasting effects that do not seem to be disappearing anytime soon.

Is it…is it real?

According to an article from the History of Vaccines, Andrew Wakefield is known as one of the founding fathers of the movement against vaccinations. Wakefield and twelve additional researchers worked on a paper that was published in the Lancet journal in 1998. Little did people know, this paper would change everything. This paper documented a study that consisted of 12 patients, namely children Wakefield found who were given the MMR vaccine and eventually developed gastrointestinal problems (enterocolitis) and symptoms of autism. Wakefield claimed that this vaccine was the root cause of these two conditions. Moreover, what was published in the paper did not align with what the actual medical records of these patients reported. It was falsified to the point that it could not be seen as a series of mistakes but more like someone had purposely made it seem like all of the data gathered strongly supported one particular side. In addition, the fact that Wakefield did not try to defend his claims with any evidence later on shows that they did not have any merit.

No such connection between the MMR vaccine and autism and/or bowel disease was ever discovered by the researchers conducting additional epidemiological studies. Later on, it was uncovered that one of the motives that Wakefield had was financial-related. In 1997, he had applied for a patent surrounding a vaccine that only contained the measles antigen. It would seem fit that he would try and disrupt the use of an MMR vaccine so that his own vaccine would come into handy. It stuns me that a person with that level of study is capable of exploiting the medical community and the public to support his own agenda. As someone who would like to be a health-care professional one day, I hope to inform patients of the reality of the world they live in.

The Consequences of Wakefield’s Actions

According to the article from British Medical Journal, following Wakefield’s falsified report, measles, mumps, and varicella infections have increased in number because less people were vaccinating their children in the world, especially in the United Kingdom.  In 2003, it was reported that vaccination rates were approximately 80% in the United Kingdom.  Luckily, in recent years, the rate has increased worldwide.  However, in the United Kingdom, herd immunity is still in question because the vaccination numbers still fail to reach the amount necessary to make sure the population is protected from these diseases.  In addition, mumps seems to have infected those in their college years (ages 18 through 24) more often now than prior to the paper.  Knowing these facts, I believe that it is of utmost importance to inform the public of the most recent and accurate information concerning vaccines in order to rid the public of the falsifications of Wakefield’s claim.  Something like this must be done if we want to protect the population for the greater good.

What I thought was particularly interesting was that it was reported that Wakefield’s coauthors did not have any knowledge that he purposely distorted the data, according to the same article from British Medical Journal.  I believe this instance depicts the lack of checks that the other coauthors had throughout the project and at the same time the lack of value that they had on the credibility of scientific research.  The scientific community is supposed to acknowledge and celebrate successes and failures so that humankind can learn for the better and avoid those mistakes.  Wakefield’s actions take this privilege away from the community and instead highlight the fact that people value putting their names on a paper instead of making sure whether or not it is true and can help the majority of the public.  This is playing on the emotions of the innocent and letting them think that they are protecting their children from developing autism, but instead they are preventing their children from being protected from more immediate diseases such as mumps and measles.