by Barbara Loe Fisher
I remember the day I met Dr. Andrew Wakefield. It was September 12, 1997 and he had just flown into Dulles Airport from London the night before to speak at the First International Public Conference on Vaccination sponsored by the National Vaccine Information Center. The title of his talk was “Measles Virus & Measles Vaccine: Lessons to be Learned.”
It was five months before he and 12 other physician colleagues would publish a study in The Lancet 1 calling for more research into a possible association between inflammatory bowel disease, MMR vaccine and developmental delays in some children.
I met Dr. Wakefield that day in 1997 in the auditorium where our conference was to take place as he was trying to decide what to do with a slide that identified him as being employed by the Royal Free Hospital. You see, he had received a telephone threat from London in the middle of the night warning him that if he spoke at our conference, he might not have a job when he returned to Britain. He then described to me the intense pressure he had been under from senior health officials in Britain to withdraw from our conference.
This was five months before he and his colleagues published the first article in the medical literature suggesting there might be an association between vaccine induced chronic inflammation in the body and developmental delays in some children.
In September 1997, Andrew Wakefield was a young British gastroenterologist, a rising star in the world of experimental medicine. He had received awards and scholarships for original research into the pathogenesis and etiology of inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease. He had a bright future ahead of him until he examined children suffering with both inflammatory bowel disease and developmental delays and decided to investigate the reports by parents that their once normal children regressed and began exhibiting symptoms of autism after getting an MMR shot.
So, as Andrew Wakefield and I were standing in the conference auditorium five months before The Lancet article was published, I told him that he did not have to speak at our conference. I told him it was not worth losing his job. I told him that I could look back and count the doctors lying on the road, who had lost their careers because they dared to conduct research into or speak about vaccine risks. I told him his own colleagues would hang him for challenging the status quo.
Despite the fact he had been threatened by senior doctors in positions of authority demanding that he withdraw from our conference, Andrew Wakefield refused my offer to stand down. He said that if he did not speak at our conference, he would always be afraid and he was not going to live in fear for the rest of his life.
And then we sat down and had a long talk about freedom of thought, conscience and scientific inquiry. We talked about fear and courage, about risking it all to do what is right. We talked about events leading up to World War II in Europe and how good people did nothing when they had the chance to act; how instead they turned away from the suffering of minorities targeted for destruction. We talked about government health policies that devalue individual life and write off some as acceptable losses in service to the rest. We talked about the suffering of vaccine injured children and their families.
And I knew then, that despite my warnings to Andrew Wakefield that he could lose everything if he tried to investigate or speak out about vaccine risks, this man was not going to stand down. He was going to risk it all.
It was a moment I will never forget because I knew the price he would pay for standing up to colleagues ordering him to salute smartly and remain silent.
Today, doctors in positions of authority in Britain, who have sought to intimidate Andrew Wakefield even before the February 1998 Lancet article was published, have declared through the General Medical Council that he and two other brave doctors, who refused to recant the conclusions of The Lancet article, are guilty of professional misconduct. 2 The General Medical Council does not operate a legal court of law; it is rather a medical court of opinion, where doctors can sanction other doctors and, in effect, hang their own.
I learned early on in my 28 years of work to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and defend the informed consent ethic in medicine, that it does not matter whether you are a doctor investigating vaccine risks or a parent of a once healthy child, who regressed into chronic poor health after vaccination. If you question the quality of vaccine science or policy, you will be demonized, harassed, and sanctioned for being an unbeliever and questioning the wisdom of doctors and scientists in positions of authority.
The General Medical Council inquisition was never about the three doctors they put on the rack and found guilty on most counts. It was always about declaring vaccine science and policy innocent on all counts. And creating a horrible warning to any young doctor, who even thinks about investigating or talking about better defining vaccine risks, to think again, shut up and salute smartly.
Today, I join millions of parents of vaccine injured children around the world, and thank Drs. Andrew Wakefield, Simon Murch and John Walker-Smith for having the intellectual honesty, conscience and courage to stand up for truth and freedom in science. You are honored and loved by many for what you have done to try to help ease the suffering of the growing numbers of vaccine injured children and prevent more children from joining their ranks.
Like you, we will not stand down and we will not be silent. We will stand up and defend truth and freedom for as long as it takes to bring both back.
1 Wakefield AJ, Murch SH et al. The Lancet. Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. February 28, 1998.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673697110960/abstract
2 Boseley S. The Guardian. From the Lancet to the GMC: how Dr. Andrew Wakefield fell from grace. January 28, 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jan/28/andrew-wakefield-downfall
January 29, 2010 Statement by the National Vaccine Information Center on Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his research
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) supports the past, present and future scientific research into the reported association between inflammatory bowel disease, developmental delays and vaccination in young children conducted by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and other physician scientists. Dr. Wakefield’s work to define the pathogenesis and etiology of chronic inflammation in the body that can affect brain and immune function is commendable. His work has led to biomedical interventions for children, who have become chronically ill and disabled after vaccination, to ease their suffering.
Research to better define the association between vaccination and chronic inflammatory disorders that affect brain and immune function should be given a much higher priority by government, industry and academia. Understanding the biological mechanisms for vaccine induced chronic inflammation in children and adults can help identify those at high risk for suffering vaccine reactions, injury and death and lead to adoption of safer vaccine policies.
The National Vaccine Information Center presented Andrew Wakeifield with an Humanitarian Award at the Oct. 2-4, 2009 Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination for “his compassion, brave spirit and uncompromising commitment to improving the health of children and the biological integrity of future generations.”
Click here for a Statement from Thoughtful House Center for Children
Click here for Official Finding of Facts from UK General Medical Council
Click here for AOA Short Form FAQ About the Wakefield GMC Case
Click here for commentary by Mark Blaxill “From the Roman to the Wakefield Inquisition”
Thank you for sharing this, Barbara. I, for one, am grateful for the courage of Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues, as I am grateful for the work you do, too. This is certainly not an easy path. Know that you have support, and that through your work, that support is growing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all you do!
Alexis
Hi Barbara!
ReplyDeleteDr. Wakefield, The New Dr. Bernice Eddy Case
Will it be any number of years before Dr. Wakefield is vindicated just as Dr. Bernice Eddy was when she was dragged through a similar kangaroo court of opinion when her FACTS threatened the MYTH of the 1950’s polio vaccine?
The corporate media is having a ‘field day’ with The General Medical Council’s ‘ruling’ that Dr. Wakefield fudged data on the connection between vaccines and autism. What corporate media doesn’t inform the general public on what THEY call a “court decision” is that the General Medical Council IS NOT A COURT OF LAW. As Barbra Loe Fisher accurately describes this so-called court:
“The General Medical Council does not operate a legal court of law; it is rather a medical court of opinion, where doctors can sanction other doctors and, in effect, hang their own.” If people really looked at this so called ‘court’ I believe they would find it less credible than Dr. Wakefield et al.
Since we really don’t know what ‘evidence’ was ALLOWED to be presented and which was not, there is only one thing the Wakefield case and many others like it prove. That is, historically, if any professional challenge the RELIGION of vaccines it becomes as carrier suicidal as it once was for professionally demonstrating the earth is round in the galileo area.
If people look at the ‘historic record’ ever since the likes of the Rockefeller and, other such notable family names, take over of what can be called today ‘the medical industrial complex’ one can see over and over vaccines get treated with kid gloves like no other drug. The pharmacological era of health care is more responsible for death on mankind then all the diseases had ever killed, with MAYBE the exception of the black death itself, but modern medicine is closing in fast on that one as well!
Funny there are NO REAL courts holding those accountable who hold major stock in pharmaceutical companies that tell the CDC / WHO to ‘fudge’ pandemic levels for profit. It’s hilarious that pregnant women are encouraged by this same ’system’ that persecuted Dr. Wakefield, to take an H1N1 vaccine, where it’s own insert clearly tells them not to and that shot kills that baby!! Yet, all we get instead is historic denial and golden promises that vaccines could never in a billion years hurt a fly.
If there were such a just court Dr. Wakefield would not only be vindicated but the mass attention on him would quickly be shifted to the guilty. Dr. Blaylock has had in his possession for quite sometime the actual minuets for an international virologists symposium the discussion of how mercury causes autsim. Yes, you see the same ‘establishment’ that is persecuting Dr. Wakefield knows full and well the mercury autism connection. The really bad news for the public is that the mercury is only the tip of the vaccine / autism plus many other problematic connection iceberg.
The high priests of the vaccine religion are mistakenly using the Wakefield kangaroo court verdict as some sort of a ‘case closed’ victory on the dangers of vaccines. Problem for them is 1.) The science against vaccines continues to mount and it goes far beyond anything Wakefield had worked on back in the 1990’s. 2.) The H1N1 vaccine scandal won’t go away regardless of this media circus on Wakefield. 3.) Probably the biggest blow for the vaccine religion is that health consumers are treating vaccines, AS THEY SHOULD, like any other health product on the market and are simply saying no “thank you”. As the high priests of vaccines found out during the H1N1 scandal, that’s one right they will NOT have taken away from them anytime soon!
I couldn't believe my eyes this morning when I opened my paper and found The Lancet is retracting his work. As for me, I am seeking a hollistic physician for my own children in my area.
ReplyDeleteI shudder to think that people such as Dr Fiona Goodlee, editor for the BMJ (British Medical Journal) is deeming it SAFE again for children to be vaccinated.
Not for my children. Not for me!
In the FAQ you refer to it states :
ReplyDeleteThe Lancet case report reads, "We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome (autistic enterocolitis) described." The Lancet case report ends with a call for additional research.
Therefore why are you so insistent that the vaccine causes autism?
When a child got sick the parents always tried to blame on anything, tried on win a sue and ignore the true medical science and research, just like people got a fever and he has an apple the day before then they tried to set up a causal relationship between "apple causes fever", this kind of threaten should not stop those who do an valid and ethic research, not those do research for the own good (reputation and money)
ReplyDeleteUhm, the scientific evidence really and truly refutes Dr. Wakefield's findings.
ReplyDeleteIntellectual honesty? He paid kids at a birthday party for samples of their blood! He took money from lawyers to make their case!
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter what his results were. That's the point of ethics in science. By being unethical in his practices, he has done more damage to your cause than any pharmaceutical company ever could have done. He effectively buried himself and any hope of finding out what damage vaccines actually might be doing to kids.
I doubt you'll publish this comment, anyway. I don't think that vaccines NEVER do any harm, but ask an old person if vaccines are pure evil. They remember when everyone knew someone who had actually been damaged by the DISEASES vaccines have all but eradicated.
Will those who currently oppose vaccination — I'm sorry, those who are "pro safe vaccine" — ever actually think a vaccine is safe? Really? Is there actually some number of studies or meta-analysis that could convince you vaccines are worth it?
ReplyDeleteThis is how we know we are dealing with pseudoscience — when proponents rush to the defense of a man like Wakefield, and insist that, no matter what, their hypothesis must be correct.
Conversely, suppose that study after study had demonstrated a link. Obviously, you would have to reject them, right? Because they would have been funded by "Big Pharma" too.
Vaccines have a non-zero risk. They have side effects. The side effects are small enough to be worth it.
My daughter had just turned 11 years old in September. On October 1/ 09 she was given the Gardisal Vaccine at school and has been seriously unwell since. Doctors say it is 100% a vaccine induced illness that looks like Lupus, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Tests confirm the allergic response to the vaccine causing an Autoimmune Disease that is attacking her Joints, muscles and whole system. She has now come down with severe Asthma and a chest infection. She was perfectly healthy before October 1/09. She is now on machines and 3 types of Asthma meds, antibiotics and rarely gets to school. She is coughing up blood and in terrible pain with crazy symptoms and illnesses like Raynuads phenonemon , joint problems, hives,allergies, eye problems,extreme fatigue, dizzy spells,loss of vision, kidney pain and the list goes on and on. Here is my blog I have kept track of everything since that day. http://no2vaccines4mylittlepooker.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteBarbara,
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I have been to your blog.
I find it interesting that the 'pro-vaccine' defenders claiming that vaccines are nothing but sound science at work and that vaccine 'side effects' are simply little 'inconveniences' that are as harmless as a simple snivel, claim there is NO science backing up vaccines 'SORED' track record.
Too bad for them yet another person steps forward to share the VERY REAL damage from the vaccine 'Gardasil' which has effected their child. Even though the damage from the Gardasil vaccine is as REAL as the nose on the face of these pro-vaccine supporters and is REPRODUCED over and over and over in LIVING HUMAN BEINGS, the very establishment that manufactures this poison and gives it to children see NO "scientific evidence" to take it off the shelf. Even as these little girls beg not to get another shot because the first got them so sick, these so called Doctors without a backbone demand they keep taking the other two instead of standing up to their boards against a vaccine that hasn't even been PROVEN to do what it CLAIMS it can do.
This is the reality and a true 'bellwether' of how far we have decade as a society.
Barbara don't stop ringing the warning bells.
Thank you!
16 YO girl goes blind after receiving HPV shot.
ReplyDeleteMy question:
How many more girls did this happen to who's doctors swore up and down 'could NOT' have been caused by the vaccine?
Read the science report...
http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/documents/vaccines/Visual%20Loss%20Following%20Immunization%20Against%20Human%20Papilloma%20Virus.pdf
If we could get through to the vaccine makers and employees to start really thinking about how it's going to be for thier children and grandchildren to live in a world of autistic people and not enough normal people to take care of them all, just maybe they will decide enough is enough we have to make this right before it's too late. They also might think about who is going to take care of them when they are old. There won't be enough normal people to run our country and take care of everyone that can't care for themselves.
ReplyDeleteblessings and gratitude to the brave Andrew Wakefield truley realised the meaning of the hypocratic oath to first do no harm - also gratitude to all those who strive for truth and honesty people are beginning to question en masse the safety of vaccinations - mankind is slowly realising that the holy grail of medicine is a for some a poisioned chalice
ReplyDeletemother of two autistic children