Physician Who Blamed Autism on Vaccines Loses Medical License in Britain

Posted by Maria Allen on May 27, 2010 | No Comments »

Dr. Andrew Wakefield published a study in 1998 that linked autism to vaccines and has recently been stripped of his medical license in Britain. Wakefield was the first doctor to publish the study that concluded that there was a connection between autism and vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella.

Since Dr. Wakefield made that conclusion, many parents across the world have chosen to forego the vaccinations which have even led to sporadic measles outbreaks in the United States according to Boston.com.

Many health experts have discredited the study since it was published but vaccination rates haven’t reached the levels they were at before the study.

Dr. Wakefield moved to the United States in 2004 and started an autism center. He was never licensed in the United States to practice medicine and quit the autism center earlier this year.

Wakefield is losing his license in Britain because the General Medical Council believes that the doctor did not act ethically in the studies and did not meet ethical standards. There is even evidence against Wakefield showing that he collected blood samples from children at his son’s birthday party. There is also evidence that Wakefield took contributions from parents who believed the vaccinations caused autism in their children.

Dr. Wakefield will repeal the ruling and believes the ruling is an effort to discredit his work to “shield the government from exposure on the vaccine scandal.”

Hopefully this ruling will end parents’ worries that vaccinations cause autism in their children and make parents feel safe about getting their children vaccinated.

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Tags: Britain, Medical License

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