Study Claims No Link Between Vaccines & Autism
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A study linking childhood vaccines to autism may have been a fraud.
Denise Koch reports the 1998 study written by Dr. Andrew Wakefield sent shockwaves across the globe, striking fear in the minds of parents that vaccines could cause their children to develop autism.
Wakefield and his colleagues based their conclusions on 12 children they examined. They claimed the children were developing normally until they had the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, shot.
Now, a new analysis published in the British Medical Journal says that hospital records show Wakefield and his colleagues altered facts about the patients in their study. The medical records show five of the children in the study had previously documented developmental problems.
Last May, Wakefield was stripped of his right to practice medicine in Britain. Still, he maintained he did nothing wrong.
"The allegations against me and against my colleagues are both unfounded and unjust," he said.
Many other published studies have shown no connection between the MMR vaccination and autism.
