October 02, 2010 05:31pm EST 

Retracted MMR Vaccine Controversy Still Holds Weight with Parents

Andrew Wakefield, a medical journalist for the British Medical Journal The Lancet, released flawed information regarding the MMR Vaccine - the vaccine administered in children to treat measles, mumps, and Rubella. In his article associating the administration of the vaccination with an increased risk of autism in children that was released in 1998, Wakefield spuriously maintained that transmitters found in the MMR Vaccine were thought to cause intestinal damage in tandem with an increased rate of developmental delay contributory to autism. In May of 2010, Dr. Wakefield was tried in a court of law on the grounds that he had released illegitimate information under the pretense of gross professional misconduct; he was subsequently found guilty. Although The Lancet officially retracted the content of the article - subsequent studies were  unable to substantiate any remote validity in Wakefield's findings - countless pediatric practitioners continue to witness a decline in their respective administration of the MMR vaccine since the 1998 release of Andrew Wakefield's article disparaging the vaccine itself. Pediatricians interviewed following Wakefield's court hearing expressed both gratitude and lament towards the decision. A New Jersey pediatrician aptly compared both the release and retraction to Wakefield's article to a certain baiting strategy that an attorney might employ in a court hearing; with full knowledge that a statement will be stricken from the record, an attorney will proceed to proclaim it before a jury - this approach places inherent ideas and notions within the minds of the jury, regardless of court protocol. Both Dr. Wakefield, as well as the attorney in question, exude an implicit understanding that although statements laden with dramatic effect can be retracted, they cannot be 'unheard'. The American Academy of Pediatrics has continued to release informational resources and literature regarding the MMR Vaccine in the attempts to combat Wakefield's gross disservice the medical community and global community alike.