| Definition By Mayo Clinic Staff Measles is a childhood infection caused by a virus... |
noid, but elohiym has been thoroughly rebuked on any of his more substantive arguments.
Not to dispute your position as a purely impartial observer
> Wakefield's credibility
> list of 28 papers that support his conclusions
> Paper claimed to show something it's author firmly refutes
etc, etc...
| PBS -- NOVA It was the events of 1998 that helped both the U.S. and the U.K. end up where they are today, fighting to contain outbreaks of a vaccine-preventable disease both countries had already exiled once before. A now-disgraced surgeon by the name of Andrew Wakefield held a press conference where he presented fraudulent findings claiming that the MMR vaccine caused autism. While other factors would play a lesser role, that single press conference had the same effect as flipping the wrong railroad switch, facilitating the train wreck—the return of measles—that would occur in both countries several years later. The effect in the U.K. was quickly apparent. In just five years after the press conference, vaccination rates had dropped to 80%. A similar trend would play out in pockets of the U.S. a few years later. Today, both counties are now seeing more measles cases than at any other time since 1998, and it’s not clear if the numbers have reached their peak or if they will continue climbing. In the U.K., at least, there’s reason to hope that measles cases will begin to decline. In the last year, England’s vaccination rates for measles passed 92% for young children, part of a continuing upward trend, and rates in Scotland and Northern Ireland are above 95%. The British government has pushed hard to recover from the drop off in the late 1990s and early 2000s and meet the 95% target that ensures population-level protection. Meanwhile, in the U.S., rates have stubbornly hovered around 91% and, in some regions, are substantially lower. |
