Andrew Wakefield: Self
Quotes
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Andrew Wakefield : [back in 1995] I knew nothing whatsoever about autism. When I was in medical school, it was so rare, we weren't taught about it.
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Andrew Wakefield : All I recommended at that press conference was that parents opt for the use of *single* vaccines, single measles, single mumps, single rubella, until the issue had been resolved. What happened then, unilateral decisions were made by the government of the UK to withdraw the importation license for the single vaccines, and Merck opted in the US to stop the production of the single vaccines, giving parents no option. I said to a senior representative of the Department of Health, "Why - if your objective is to protect children from serious infectious disease - why would you take away the option from the parents to do that?" And she said, "Because, if we'd allow parents the choice of single vaccines, this would destroy our MMR program." In other words, the concern was for the protection of the program over and above protection of children.
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Andrew Wakefield : In 1987, there was an MMR vaccine that was being used in Canada, produced by Smithkline Beecham; and that vaccine caused meningitis. This was recognized quickly, and that vaccine was withdrawn in Canada. However, in the same month it was withdrawn in Ontario, it was licensed in the UK. Its name was simply changed from Trivirix to Pluserix. In the UK it was used for four years, and likewise it caused meningitis, and had to be rapidly withdrawn. There was a public outcry and a loss of confidence by the public in the vaccine policy makers. The vaccine should, at this point, have been destroyed. It wasn't. It was then shipped to developing countries, like Brazil, where it was used in a mass vaccination campaign. And there was an epidemic of meningitis, which was entirely predictable.
