Feb 02, 2010 Views: 1105
Famous paper linking the MMR vaccine to autism retracted
The Lancet has retracted the 1998 study linking autism with inoculation against three childhood illnesses, a paper that caused a furor in the research and medicine community and panic and a lasting general backlash against not only the combination MMR vaccination, but childhood immunization programs in general that has still to recover today.
Original article
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(97)11096-0/fulltext
The retraction of the article by the editors
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60175-7/fulltext
It was notable that in 2004, 10 of the paper's 13 authors published a "retraction of an interpretation." distancing themselves from the lead author
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(04)15715-2/fulltext
I do wonder how quick all those that were so quick to jump on the anti-vaccine bandwagon as a result of this one ethically flawed study, will begin to consider vaccination programs as safe again.
Studies like this, and more particularly the sensationalist publicity they caused in the general media are the whole reason people have been reluctant to get immunized against H1N1 which is a mentality that poses a far greater health risk to society due to the increased the risk of spreading the virus, compared to the probability of an individual suffering an adverse side effect from receiving the vaccination.