The MMR vaccine is an immunization vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles). It is a mixture of live attenuated viruses of the three diseases, administered via injection. The three vaccines (for mumps, measles, and rubella) were combined in 1971 to become the MMR vaccine.
The MMR vaccine became the centre of a controversy following claims (which were subsequently established as fraudulent) that the vaccine was responsible for causing Autism-spectrum disorders in children. The controversy was kicked off in 1998 by the publication of a paper by British surgeon Andrew Wakefield in the medical journal The Lancet. Investigations later revealed that Wakefield had multiple undeclared conflicts of interest, had manipulated evidence, and had broken other ethical codes. The Lancet paper was partially retracted in 2004 and fully retracted in 2010, and Wakefield was found guilty by the General Medical Council of serious professional misconduct in May 2010 and was struck off the Medical Register.
ALARMIST NOTION
Despite overwhelming scientific evidence for the fact that the vaccine's positive effects significantly outweigh any risks it may pose, some anti-vaccine groups in the US and UK have created an alarmist notion that the MMR vaccine is responsible for autism. Many parents have bought into this, so much so that several diseases, including measles, which had previously been controlled to a large degree, have seen serious outbreaks in the recent past. The New England Journal of Medicine has said that anti-vaccine propaganda has resulted in a high cost to society, "including damage to individual and community well-being from outbreaks of previously controlled diseases, withdrawal of vaccine manufacturers from the market, compromising of national security (in the case of anthrax and smallpox vaccines), and lost productivity.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/The-vaccine-and-its-controversy/articleshow/34130024.cms
The MMR vaccine became the centre of a controversy following claims (which were subsequently established as fraudulent) that the vaccine was responsible for causing Autism-spectrum disorders in children. The controversy was kicked off in 1998 by the publication of a paper by British surgeon Andrew Wakefield in the medical journal The Lancet. Investigations later revealed that Wakefield had multiple undeclared conflicts of interest, had manipulated evidence, and had broken other ethical codes. The Lancet paper was partially retracted in 2004 and fully retracted in 2010, and Wakefield was found guilty by the General Medical Council of serious professional misconduct in May 2010 and was struck off the Medical Register.
ALARMIST NOTION
Despite overwhelming scientific evidence for the fact that the vaccine's positive effects significantly outweigh any risks it may pose, some anti-vaccine groups in the US and UK have created an alarmist notion that the MMR vaccine is responsible for autism. Many parents have bought into this, so much so that several diseases, including measles, which had previously been controlled to a large degree, have seen serious outbreaks in the recent past. The New England Journal of Medicine has said that anti-vaccine propaganda has resulted in a high cost to society, "including damage to individual and community well-being from outbreaks of previously controlled diseases, withdrawal of vaccine manufacturers from the market, compromising of national security (in the case of anthrax and smallpox vaccines), and lost productivity.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/The-vaccine-and-its-controversy/articleshow/34130024.cms
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