The suggestion that MMR should be split and given in three separate injections spaced by at least a year came from Dr Wakefield at a press conference following the publication of a paper by his team in the Lancet in 1998. The suggestion was not supported by his 12 co-authors or by any scientific evidence.

Dr. Wakefield resigned from his job at the Royal Free Hospital in London in early 2002 amid claims he had been forced out over the MMR controversy.

MMR protects your child with one injection. If you follow Dr. Wakefield's suggestion, then those three shots will be given over three years. That's three long years, and likely longer, because you probably have a busy life and aren't likely to remember injection two and three when exactly each year passes. That's three years during which time your child could become infected. That's not very smart.

Soon after Dr. Wakefields article was published, people started demanding single injections. Some people were willing to pay the extra cost -- and oftentimes this led to extra grief.

For example in July 2003 around 40,000 single injections, valued at £75 each, were incorrectly administered at the Elstree Aerodrome and Hillsborough Arena in Sheffield. According to Dr. Rosy McNaught, a consultant in Communicable Disease Control for the Health Protection Service in Sheffield, "[The single injections] may have contained traces of a disinfectant which could have made the dose ineffective."

What is interesting to note is that in Dr. Wakefields early report (Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children, The Lancet, Vol 351, February 28, 1998; pp. 641) regarding the covered syndrome it is said, "We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described... Published evidence is inadequate to show whether there is a change in incidence or a link with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine." (This study included 12 children)

About one year later an article was published by Brent Taylor (Autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: no epidemiological evidence for a causal association, The Lancet, Vol 353, June 12, 1999; pp. 2026) that said, "Our analyses do not support a causal association between MMR vaccine and autism. If such an association occurs, it is so rare that it could not be identified in this large regional sample." (This study included 498 children with autism)

Another year later an article was published by Annamari Patja (Serious adverse events after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination during a fourteen-year prospective follow-up, The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, Vol 19, No. 12, December 2000; pp. 1133) that said, "No case of inflammatory bowel disease or autism was detected during this long follow-up study comprising 3 million vaccine doses. This finding is important because were there an association with MMR vaccination after such a short interval as suggested (45),(46), this prospective study design would undoubtedly have disclosed at least some cases."

Then in March 2004, Dr. Evan Harris (Liberal Democrat MP) accused Dr. Wakefield of unethical conduct. According to Dr. Harris, the plan of the study by Dr. Wakefield had been changed after it was authorised by the Royal Free Hospital’s (UK) ethics panel. Dr. Wakefield did not clear the changes with the ethics committee. Dr. Harris said that the autistic children were subjected to unnecessary lumbar punctures. (In a lumber puncture spinal fluid is removed with a needle, and the child is sedated.)

Dr. Wakefield also failed to declare a significant conflict of interest. The editor of the Lancet said he would not have published Dr. Wakefield's research in 1998 if he had known then about the conflict of interest.

So, who benefit from the single injections? Dr. Wakefield initially received a lot of publicity, and perhaps it can be said that he gained a few years of recognition, although in the end he was branded as unethical. This author believes the independent health care companies benefit the most. At £75 per injection, or about £225 per child, the independent health care companies made a lot of money from a lot of worried parents.

(The MMR vaccination is available for free through the National Health Service.)

REFERENCES

⁴⁵ Wakefield AJ, Murch SH, Anthony A, et al. Ileal-lymphoid nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. Lancet 1998; 351:637-41.

⁴⁶ Thompson NP, Montgomery SM, Pounder RE, Wakefield AJ. Is measles vaccination a risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease? Lancet 1995; 345:1071-4.