DR. ANDREW WAKEFIELD IS BEING BLAMED FOR THE DECLINE IN MEASLES

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DR. ANDREW WAKEFIELD IS BEING BLAMED FOR THE DECLINE IN MEASLES, MUMPS AND RUBELLA VACCINATION IN THE UK. BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED. THE TREND STARTED YEARS BEFORE HE PUBLISHED HIS INITIAL RESEARCH ON REGRESSIVE AUTISM

An Investigation By RFD Columnist, Dr. F. Edward Yazbak

TL Autism Research
Falmouth, Massachusetts

E-mail: [email protected]

In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield identified a new bowel disorder in children with regressive autism, and suggested a possible link between MMR vaccination and autism. He also called for more research. Since then, the health authorities in the United Kingdom have put forth much energy, and in excess of £3 million, trying to defend the image of the triple vaccine instead of investigating the causes of the documented autism epidemic. In addition, the UK Department of Health (DOH) has insisted that only the MMR vaccine be made available. This has forced parents, who are concerned about the safety of the triple vaccine, to privately purchase (if they can afford them) monovalent vaccines for their children, or to forgo vaccination altogether. The stand that the DOH has chosen to take goes against its own directive in “Immunization against Infectious Disease 1988”: “For children whose parents refuse MMR vaccine, single antigen measles will be available.”

Although Andrew Wakefield has done nothing but echo that both the triple and single vaccines should be made available, he has been accused of endangering the life of children whose parents are opposed to MMR vaccination. The fact is that the responsibility for endangering lives falls entirely on the shoulders of the DOH. By adopting such a rigid stance, to defend a triple vaccine that does have proven alternatives, it is the DOH that has put children in harm’s way.

A recent Channel 5 drama “Hear the Silence” has rekindled the argument and the accusations.

This investigation, which is based strictly and entirely on DOH data, will show conclusively that MMR vaccination rates were down before Dr. Wakefield published his initial paper on the subject in The Lancet, in February 1998.

The two documents used as references can be found as PDF files at www.doh.gov.uk.

The first document (D1) entitled “NHS Immunisation Statistics, England: 1997-98” can be accessed at www.doh.gov.uk/pub/docs/doh/imstat98.pdf This particular document also covers the 10-year period after 1988 when MMR vaccination was introduced.

The second (D2) is entitled “Immunisation against Infectious Disease 1996. The Green Book” The chapter on measles, mumps and rubella spans from pages 125 to 146 and is accessible at:

http://www.doh.gov.uk/greenbook/greenbookpdf/chapter-22-layout.pdf

This reference was chosen because it was also published before the Wakefield report but shortly after a rather significant national vaccination effort.

During the period reviewed, the officially recommended (and available) primary pediatric vaccinations in the UK [Table A (D1)] were: 

D/T/P and HIB, Polio:            First dose:       2 months

                                          Second dose:   3 months

                                          Third dose:      4 months

Measles/mumps/rubella (MMR)                    12-15 months (any age over 12 ms).

The following table, a replica of Table 5 (D1), shows the number (x1000) of children who completed the primary series of vaccination yearly between 1988-89 and 1997- 98.

	Diphtheria	Tetanus	Pertussis	Polio	MMR	HIB
1988-89	604	644	517	607	1005
1989-90	643	691	582	650	1396
1990-91	891	946	837	899	1069
1991-92	647	695	618	654	811
1992-93	628	670	609	637	628
1993-94	603	636	588	614	640	855
1994-95	609	628	593	615	671	589
1995-96	587	601	574	593	572	596
1996-97	572	576	574	564	561	553
1997-98	576	578	589	577	563	565

DTP and polio vaccines had been in use for years before the introduction of the MMR. HIB statistics start shortly after the vaccine was licensed in 1993-94. Many more children were vaccinated during the 3 years that followed the introduction of a new vaccine: 1988 to 1991 for the MMR and 1993 to 1996 for HIB. It is likely that children older than 2, who received MMR for the first time, were included in the statistics for the first 3 years listed, when more than 1 million children a year were vaccinated.

It is not clear why the number of children receiving 3 doses of DTP/ Polio vaccines and one dose of MMR vaccine, decreased between 1994 and 1998, as shown in the following table, also based on Table 5 (D1). It is interesting that the DOH never mentioned, nor found significant, the fact that the decrease was substantially more significant for the MMR vaccine. 

Year	Diphtheria	Tetanus	Pertussis	Polio	MMR
1994-95	609 k	628 k	593 k	615 k	671 k
1995-96	587 k	601 k	574 k	593 k	572 k
1996-97	572 k	576 k	574 k	564 k	561 k
1997-98	576 k	578 k	589 k	577 k	563 k
Decrease	5.4%	8.0%	0.7%	6.2%	16.1%

When one compares 1994-95 with 1997-98, the percent decrease (16.1) in the number of children receiving MMR vaccinations (1 dose per child) is 222% larger than the average percent decrease (5.0) in the number of children receiving 3 doses of Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis and Polio vaccines.

English parents have historically been concerned about the safety of the whooping cough vaccine. Many have also questioned its effectiveness. The result was that pertussis vaccination rates dropped to 30% in the late 70’s. (D1: Figure 1)

“In the case of pertussis, coverage rates have regained the ground lost in the mid-1970’s due to public anxiety about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. The recent fall in MMR coverage may be the result of similar concern over the vaccine”. (D1: 2.1.1)

This pre-1998 comparison by the DOH is significant.

As shown in the above table, approximately 19,000 (3.3%) fewer children received 3 doses of pertussis vaccine in 1997-1998 than in 1993-1994. In comparison, 87,000 (13.6%) fewer children received one dose of MMR vaccine. The DOH does not   mention the fact, that for several years, a substantial number of English parents have been more likely to have their children complete a series of pertussis vaccines rather than receive one dose of MMR.

The following table lists the percentage of children who had received their primary courses of vaccination by their second birthday. It is based on Table 2 (D1)

Year of            2nd Birthday	Diphtheria	Tetanus	Pertussis	Polio	HIB	MMR
1995-96	95.7	95.7	93.7	95.6	94.2	91.9
1996-97	95.7	95.7	94.2	95.7	95.1	91.5
1997-98	95.5	95.6	94.2	95.5	95.1	90.8

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