MMR safe? Baloney, according to Melanie Phillips.
MMR safe? Baloney, according to Melanie Phillips.
The consequences of this sort of scaremongering about MMR and autism are currently being felt in Wales. 900 people have been infected with measles in Swansea alone – measles is a disease that can cause brain damage and death in children – and there are fears that London could be the next city to suffer an outbreak.
The reemergence of measles as a threat to human health is due to parents not getting their children vaccinated in the past 15 years. And why haven’t parents been getting their children vaccinated? As the Times reports today: “one million children may not have received the full course of the MMR vaccine, in large part because of discredited fears it leads to autism“.
Now who would have spread such nonsense?
In her 2005 article (where the ‘baloney’ headline comes from), Melanie Phillips referred to “a frenzy of gloating by Wakefield’s discredited enemies” and “ripe denunciations of those like this newspaper who took his concerns seriously and demands that we apologise for creating a scare that left children unvaccinated and at risk of measles, mumps and rubella”.
I haven’t noticed much gloating. What is there to gloat about? Measles can kill. It’s not about political point scoring, it’s about what’s true and what isn’t, and the responsibility the press has not to mislead the public on such grave issues.
An apology would be appropriate, though – an apology for promoting discredited nonsense long after it has been discredited, putting the lives of children at risk.
Disclaimer: To give them some credit, the Mail has taken the measles outbreak seriously enough to look for someone to blame.
19 Responses to “‘Baloney’ – the Mail’s campaign against life saving MMR vaccine”
Nigel Tolley
So have you done the right thing and paid for the 3 individual shots for your son, or just buried your head in the sand, hoping that the very ‘herd immunity’ you are destroying will protect your family?
Suetusor
Its Public Health Wales who are being economical with the truth. A notification is not measles case but they are saying it is. For the entire period 1 January to March 31, 2013 for the whole of Wales there were just 26 laboratory confirmed cases out of 446 notifications: 10 in January, 8 in February. And in March just eight cases out of 302 notifications for the whole of Wales.
charlie
My son was at a very advanced stage as a child, shortly after the MMR JABs he stopped talking, he never spoke for two years and now at the age of 10 he is autistic. The Italian and American Courts are paying compenstation for children who have developed autism as a result of this jab. We in the UK have been sold up the river by the same corrupt politicians who fiddled expenses for years and the same press who tapped the phones child murder victims parents . Andrew wakefield will have his day, the truth will come out
charlie
My son was at a very advanced stage as a child, shortly after the MMR JABs he stopped talking, he never spoke for two years and now at the age of 10 he is autistic. The Italian and American Courts are paying compenstation for children who have developed autism as a result of this jab. We in the UK have been sold up the river by the same corrupt politicians who fiddled expenses for years and the same press who tapped the phones child murder victims parents . Andrew wakefield will have his day, the truth will come out