Dr Wakefield is up on disciplinary charges. This is the doctor who sparked off the controversy about the MMR vaccine. It has to be said, that whether or not the MMR is linked with autism, more children are being harmed through not being vaccinated than would be from using the vaccine. It is incredibly difficult however.
No medicine can be 100% safe, no medicine can be 100% effective. For vaccines to work it requires a certain percentage of the population to be immunised. We are looking for "herd" immunity, so that the disease can't get established. If not enough are vaccinated then the challenge mounts and will get to a point where any immunity can be overwhelmed. And in London there is a definite rise in the numbers of children with measles. Last year a child died from measles, something that hadn't happened for quite a while. So the difficulty is that immunity is a "herd" thing, while side effects are an individual thing. For the "herd" to be safe then individuals have to take the risk. And that is a tough decision for any parent to make.
What caught my eye though is that Dr Wakefield was taking blood samples from children at a brithday party. Brings a whole new meaning to "pin the tail on the donkey" doesn't it.
1 comment:
It is incredibly difficult however
if any of the allegations are upheld then hopefully then while the GMC may not see it's role as adjuducating between theories they would hopefully at least pass comment on the slight, er 'lapse' in standards of peer review at the Lancet. It's a stunning series of allegations of breaches of ethics and patient care, which from the outset has always seemed to be such a shame. He could be soright about the links, but instead will always be a charlatan rather than a scientist. Still i guess he's guranteed mega publicity for his cause and even if struck off will still have a highly profitable lecture circuit around the desperate parents of the world
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