The Greek Chorus (Wakefield)   Wakefield GMC Hearing 2007  Wakefield "discredited."

['So for the record, I am pro-vaccination.'   She wouldn't have a job if she was anti-vaccine.  As for Wakefield being 'dishonest', a lie, how about the honesty and integrity of spreading government lies, and the consequences?]

He wasn’t the only one wrong about MMR

By Suzanne Moore  30th January 2010

Discredited: Dr Andrew Wakefield and wife Carmel at the GMC HQ last week

Now that Andrew Wakefield has been found to be dishonest and his tests on children invasive – and it is likely that he will be struck off by the GMC – it’s time to re-evaluate the MMR debate.

In 2002, I was concerned about giving my youngest the triple vaccine (my elder two had had it) as she had just nearly died from meningococcal septicaemia.

My GP told me not give it to her so I went for single vaccines. This is my one and only experience of private healthcare and it turned out to be bogus.

But I also wrote at the time that we vaccinate not just for our own precious children but for the sake of the weakest in the community.

My problem was lack of trust in government advice.

Ben Goldacre  in his excellent book Bad Science blames the media and people like myself for causing this hysteria.

So I am happy to say my concerns were wrong and when my child had recovered she had the triple vaccine.

But Wakefield will still be a hero and martyr to some poor parents because this is not simply an argument about hard evidence versus irrational anxiety.

Parents of autistic children need far more support and, yes, some do want to find a cause (which I still think may be down to environmental conditions and better diagnosis) for the rise in autistic spectrum disorders.

They may be wrong. Let’s not condemn them as worthless.

Scientists are often frustrated at quackery. The mass overdosing of homeopathic pills this weekend will not, I predict, stop people going to homeopaths.

Why? Because homeopaths will spend hours listening in a way doctors don’t have the time to.

What we need is a combination of scientific understanding and emotional intelligence. This did not happen during the MMR debate where no one was listening to each other. So for the record, I am pro-vaccination.