Retracted Autism Study Spreads Fear and Preventable Disease

Click here to follow TMA on Twitter.  Or visit TMA on Facebook.  

One vaccine study now exposed as fraudulent frightened parents and harmed children, but today doctors hope they can re-convince patients that vaccines are safe, effective, and important. 

A study attempting to link autism to the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, though ultimately retracted and now alleged to be fraudulent, is lowering immunization rates and increasing the prevalence of vaccine-preventable diseases, explains Texas Medicine magazine, the official publication of the Texas Medical Association (TMA).  

In 1998, British physician Andrew Wakefield, MD, published a study in British medical journal The Lancet linking the MMR vaccine to autism and bowel disease, introducing a new syndrome he called “autistic enterocolitis.” This sparked a media firestorm, and some parents decided against vaccinating their children.  

“Parents developed a global fear of vaccines,” says Ari Brown, MD, an Austin pediatrician and member of TMA’s Be Wise — Immunize^SM Advisory Panel.  

Now the number of patients contracting preventable diseases, such as measles and pertussis (commonly referred to as whooping cough), has risen. 

Measles cases in the United States rose to 131 in 2008 from 63 in 2000. The suffering caused by the measles outbreak was “preventable and occurred because of fear created by this public fraud,” according to Jason Terk, MD, a member of TMA’s Council on Science and Public Health, and Be Wise — Immunize Advisory Panel. The situation was worse in Britain, where in 2004 the vaccination rate fell to 80 percent, well below the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 95 percent. England and Wales declared measles endemic in 2008. They asserted the disease has taken firm root among their populations when the number of cases surged to 1,370. Also, nearly 17,000 people suffered from whooping cough in 2009, and 12 infants died from the disease. A recent serious whooping cough outbreak struck Williamson County in central Texas, where more than 18 times the state average number of residents contracted the illness. 

Meanwhile public doubt about vaccines existed, so physicians and scientific researchers repeatedly asked and attempted to answer whether vaccines are safe. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) thoroughly reviewed studies and medical and scientific reports about whether a link exists between autism and the MMR vaccine. Likewise, an American Academy of Pediatrics expert panel reviewed information from parents, scientists, and medical professionals. None of this independent research could determine a link between the MMR vaccine and autism or related disorders. Dr. Terk says after 13 epidemiologic studies and the IOM review, the answer to whether vaccines are safe is a resounding yes. 

Doubts about Dr. Wakefield’s findings escalated in 2004 when 10 of the study’s coauthors withdrew their support for its conclusions. Then in 2010, The Lancet formally retracted Dr. Wakefield’s study, and England’s General Medical Council found Dr. Wakefield guilty of professional misconduct and revoked his medical license. 

In January, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published an investigative report, “How the Case Against the MMR Vaccine Was Fixed.” In it, journalist Brian Deer alleges attorneys looking to profit from lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers paid Dr. Wakefield $674,000 to conduct his study. BMJ asserts that Dr. Wakefield altered data to achieve the results published in his report. Additionally, BMJ reported Dr. Wakefield had much to gain financially from this still-unsubstantiated disorder, estimating that tests for “autistic enterocolitis” could have netted $43 million in revenue for prospective investors. 

BMJ says Dr. Wakefield declined to replicate the findings in his 1998 paper or to say he was mistaken. The journal also reports no one has been able to duplicate Dr. Wakefield’s original findings. This strays from scientific protocol, doctors explain.  

Since the study’s retraction, physicians hope parents will again choose to vaccinate their child against preventable infectious diseases. Doing so, they say, protects that child and can help protect the entire community. 

“I predict we will see a modest increase in vaccination coverage rates in Texas,” says Scot R. Morris, MD, a Brownwood pediatrician and a member of TMA’s Committee on Child and Adolescent Health. “If parents skip or delay vaccines, children are at risk. If you add this number to the children who don’t get vaccinated due to lapses in coverage or other unintentional barriers, the problem grows into an eminent threat to the health of our children.”  

“Many parents are confused by the controversy they have heard and simply need their questions answered in a respectful way,” says Dr. Terk.  Doctors continue to strive to allay parents’ fears. And TMA’s Be Wise — Immunize program offers free and low-cost vaccinations, and educates parents that vaccines are important, safe, and effective.  

TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 45,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 120 component county medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans. 

-- 30 -- 

Be Wise — Immunize is a service mark of the Texas Medical Association.