MMR and Autism: What Parents Need to Know [Paperback]

In this book Michael Fitzpatrick, a father of an autistic child and a GP, cuts through the fake hysteria surrounding MMR to show why no scare should have started in the first place. Fitzpatrick shows that the MMR-autism link is not supported by epidemiology and has no credible, reproducible lab evidence that could provide a mechanism.

The fake MMR scare now, thankfully, appears to be fading as the media loses interest under the weight of more and more studies showing no link to autism, however, this book remains important. The lessons of the MMR fiasco need to be learnt by the government and the media so the next time a “medical maverick” questions established and effective therapies the correct questions are asked before an unnecessary panic is created.

Interestingly, following the point about profit mentioned earlier, Fitzpatrick also points out that the "medical research" that first linked MMR to autism was produced using public funding (from Legal Aid) at the request of a legal firm with an interest in starting litigation. We the public funded this baseless research to the tune of £15 million and yet the findings are yet to be disclosed or published. That this public money was wasted in this way is the only remaining MMR scandal and yet nobody is being held accountable.

Fitzpatrick does not dismiss the views of those who claims a link between MMR and autisms out of hand but systematically goes through all their claims and shows how they just don't stand up to any rational analysis by which we make judgments and decisions about issues in normal life.

Yet it's remarkable how widespread these views now are, working in a hospital, I'm still amazed at the number of people who've smugly told me that there must be something in the link with autism but the advantages of the MMR vaccine outweigh the risks of not having it; well, this book shows quite clearly that there isn't anything in the link and it's not a question of balancing two opposing points of view.

In fact, the medical and political establishment doesn't come out of this story very well either and Fitzpatrick is right to point out their shortcomings. From the initial decision of the editor of the Lancet to publish what he considered at the time to be a poor paper (and launch it with a televised press conference) to Tony Blair, who gave the story a new lease of life by refusing to say whether his young son had been vaccinated, to the Department of Health and its experts, who have done their share of scare mongering with dire threats of impending epidemics yet who weren't even prepared to defend their point of view in the televised discussion after the drama 'Hear the silence' about Andrew Wakefield was screened on Channel 5. It's also amazing to note how many journalists have boosted their careers by latching on to this scare whenever it's flagged.

It may be that this particular story is now over, Andrew Wakefield has adopted an increasingly martyred posture, leaving a small group of followers to do his arguing for him, but it is still an important issue and you can be sure that there will be another issue along which will cause another panic. There are many lessons to be learnt from it and it is in this context that the epilogue to the book is particularly useful. It ranges from practical suggestions to fellow GP's on how to put a positive case for MMR without scaring worried patients, to a more general and thought provoking section on medicine and scientific research in an increasingly irrational and anxious age.

Dr Fitzpatrick reminds us of the dangers of measles, mumps and rubella. In the ten years before the first measles immunisation was introduced in Britain, 850 children died from measles. Since MMR immunisation was introduced in 1988, there have been only four deaths from measles, and 19 from complications. Japan, with a low uptake of MMR immunisation, has 50/100 measles deaths a year.

So the government is right to encourage mass MMR immunisation and to oppose the individual choice of separate vaccines, even though its promotion of 'individual choice' and 'personalised care' undermines all good NHS policies. The government's 'faith-based' politics - evident in Blair's refusal to say whether his son Leo had been immunised - align it against both the medical profession and scientific evidence.

The original article that sparked the MMR immunisation scare, by Dr Andrew Wakefield, only raised the possibility of a relationship between MMR immunisation and autism: it put forward no evidence of a causal link, and specified no mechanism of transmission. In the subsequent five years, he has failed to substantiate his claim.

Since then, many independent researchers have proven that there is no causal link between MMR and autism, but Dr Wakefield refuses to accept the overwhelming evidence. He even told a US senate committee that the Royal Statistical Society had damned an important study that refuted his hypothesis, although this was not true. He has now moved to a private clinic in Florida run by an evangelical Christian.

We still know too little about the neurobiological framework of autism. The one thing we do know is that whatever else causes autism, it is not MMR immunisation. The facts show that MMR vaccine is safe, and that immunisation does not compromise natural immunity.