The false theory that vaccines might cause autism came from a now-retracted 1998 UK study on the MMR vaccine (preventing measles, mumps and rubella) which turned out to have been almost entirely fabricated by its author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield. He made up virtually the entire thing, according to CNN, “misrepresent(ing) or alter(ing) the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study.” A 2011 investigation by the British medical journal BMJ called it an “elaborate fraud,” and concluded that of the 12 cases, “five showed developmental problems before receiving the MMR vaccine and three never had autism.” Wakefield was stripped of his medical license in 2010. But because it was reported as a credible study at the time, the idea of a vaccine-autism link entered people’s minds. It perfectly illustrates how misinformation can spread like a virus. Years later, when the study was exposed as fraudulent, the damage had already been done, since a cottage industry had sprung up around the lies, exploiting the families of children with autism who were desperate for answers to explain why their kids were affected.
So what happens when a researcher decides to conduct a study to determine if vaccines cause autism? Well, when you fabricate your data, and publish your study to great fanfare, you’re hailed as a hero. Then it’s discovered that you made up pretty much the entire thing…but it’s OK. Even though you’ve been stripped of your medical license, your following- already convinced that you’re their children’s savior- has long since determined that your study is the unshakable, inviolate Gospel truth.
Celebrities, as well as some really, truly highly-educated people who should know better, remain convinced of the link between vaccines and autism. Even though there’s currently NO- zero, zip, none, nada- credible scientific evidence to establish a link between vaccines and autism, there are those who’ve accepted Wakefield’s discredited study as gospel and refuse to consider any alternative…even the truth.
Sometimes the ability of educated people to accept some truly, unbelievably stupid things fairly boggles the mind….
One side effect of widespread vaccine denial has been the refusal to allow children to be vaccinated against childhood diseases that until now had been virtually eradicated. All of this stems from a falsified study with a sample size of all of 12 subjects.
What’s indisputable is that no real scientific research has ever found evidence vaccines cause autism. “The Earth isn’t flat, it’s round, and vaccines don’t cause autism,” says Dr. Paul Offit, Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and co-inventor of a Rotavirus vaccine. “That’s just a matter of scientific fact.”
ONE study, based on 12 children, that yielded purely invented data, sparked a worldwide scare that continues to reverberate despite long since being exposed as fraudulent. It’s almost as if people WANTED to have their suspicions confirmed, and once they were they latched onto the study that “confirmed” them as if their life depended on it. They continue to cling to it so tightly that not even the truth can displace the lies that have taken root and flourished in fertile soil.
In 2012, a review of actual, rigorous studies covering over 14.7 million children found no vaccine-autism link in any cases, as recently documented by Upworthy in its “All 7 Billion” series about global health and poverty, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Vaccine deniers have succeeded in giving preventable diseases like pertussis and meningitis a second chance…and it’s killing children.
Jenny McCarthy has for years been the most notable vaccine denier, and the lies she’s used her celebrity to spread are responsible for helping to create an atmosphere that’s led to the deaths of untold numbers of children. Though she now continues to lie, insisting she never linked vaccines to autism, there’s ample available evidence to prove her a liar.
In 2009, McCarthy told TIME Magazine:
I do believe sadly it’s going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it’s their f-cking fault that the diseases are coming back. They’re making a product that’s sh-t. If you give us a safe vaccine, we’ll use it. It shouldn’t be polio versus autism.
Now McCarthy’s heavily invested in claiming that she never pushed the nonexistent link between vaccines and autism, though anyone with an Internet connection can prove otherwise in under three minutes. Perhaps she realizes that she has blood on her hands, because the lies she peddled help contribute to the deaths of who-knows-how-many children. To be certain, there’s no law against, spread lies that result in widespread fatalities, thought that’s not to absolve McCarthy of culpability. She may not have directly killed children, but she’s responsible for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of death.
Perhaps she understands that she has to deny the reality of her past in order to salvage her career, which has taken a serious hit since her lies were exposed. I can’t help but wonder how long it will be until a parent sues her for spreading disinformation and dishonest science? That may be the only way McCarthy can be held responsible for the children her lies have helped to kill.
