A 10-minute "Cliff Notes" Summary of the YouTube Video, "Vaccines and Autism: A Measured Response" by the Hbomberguy
For a long time, I have generally understood that the autism/vaccine scare was based on a single, shoddy science paper that was later retracted, but until seeing this video, I had absolutely no idea on just how bad AND CORRUPT the project leading up to the paper's publication really was. Credit for this information goes first to investigative reporter, Brian Deer and author of "The Doctor Who Fooled the World", and second to "Hbomberguy" (aka Harry Brewis) for distilling the story into this eye-opening 1 hour 45 minute video for which I have added annotations to his chapter headings below for those who simply don't have time to watch the whole thing. I highly recommend watching at least the first hour if you can (breaking it into15-30min. chunks may help), but you can use the spoiler notes below to skip to sections of most interest to you. At a minimum, please take 10 minutes to read this summary if you or someone you care about has concerns about the link between vaccines and autism.
Vaccines and Autism: A Measured Response by the Hbomberguy
CHAPTERS:
0:00 - Intro
Admittedly inane. The viewer must be willing to excuse ridiculous British humor and cussing throughout. If you can't tolerate or don't have the patience to watch all 1 hour 45 minutes (even in chunks), please see the notes below to get the gist of the information provided.
2:20 - The Easy Version
This section is a brief summary of what most people already know: a single study linked vaccines with autism and was later retracted, because it was bad science, but its legacy lives on and on...
6:15 - An In-Depth Analysis of the Worst Study Ever Done
Issues with the research quality of Andrew Wakefield's study are discussed. Feel free to review Wakefield's original publication.
The study was based on a sample size of 12 children (from 7 families) from a group of parents who were already concerned about a potential link between autism and the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine. The link between autism and MMR as stated in the paper is based on the parents' own observation that onset of symptoms generally began within a month following MMR vaccination.
The paper states directly: "We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described. Virological studies are underway that may help to resolve this issue." The final concluding statement about a link between MMR, autism, and a fictional colitis-type disease called "autistic enterocolitis" is wildly speculative and inconclusive. Note that the paper is an "early report" and a rebuttal article is published in the same issue warning that inciting mistrust in vaccines could lead to tragic results on a large scale.
The only corroborating paper cited is authored by ex-Dr. Fudenberg (who lost his license for theft of controlled substances for personal use) and claimed he could "cure" autism by developing a pill from his own bone marrow (see video ~18:00 for details).
22:38 - In Which The Media Gets Everyone Killed
In an unusual move, Wakefield holds a press conference associated with the 1998 publication of his speculative paper claiming the MMR vaccine puts millions of children at risk, suggesting separate vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella as a safe alternative to the MMR combined vaccine. The media of the day took that soundbite and ran with it creating a lot of hype and discouraging parents from vaccinating their children to this day.
33:03 - How Not To Talk About Autism
The media selects worst case examples and treats autism as if it is a fate worse than death and other serious complications of diseases such as measles.
36:22 - Andrew Wakefield is a Lying Conman Who Wanted Your Money
While it lacked the same media attention as the scare over vaccinations in general, the paper's author, Andrew Wakefield never promoted refraining from vaccination altogether. He was only against the polyvalent MMR vaccine and frequently pushed the idea of alternatively using separate monovalent vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella (3 jabs instead of 1 at increased cost to families).
As it so happens, Wakefield had acquired a patent on a monovalent measles vaccine 6 months prior to releasing the paper bashing the MMR vaccine and initiating his publicity to promote monovalent vaccines. Note that the co-author on the patent is the quack Hugh Fudenberg (misspelled as Fundenberg on the patent). At the same time, Wakefield launched multiple business company names and began marketing a concept to sell test kits for "autistic enterocolitis".
He got one partner to generate positive test results in his lab (who turned out to have a financial stake in generating positive results) for associating measles in the colon of autistic children. However no other lab was able to repeat these results in independent testing.
As it turns out, Wakefield's own lab never detected measles RNA in the guts of any of the children studied, and the lab technician who did the analysis (Dr. Nicholas Chadwick) requested that his name not be included on the publication (a rare ask in the publish or perish academic culture).
Additionally, Wakefield's institution offered to fund him to conduct a valid study with 150 subjects to validate the hypotheses postulated in his 12 subject pilot. He agreed to conduct the study, but never followed through, so was eventually dismissed from the institution in 2001.
52:50 - It Gets Much Worse
Investigative Reporter, Brian Deer began looking into the history of the study, and discovered that Wakefield had been contracted to conduct the study in 1996 by lawyer Richard Barr who saw an opportunity to sue manufacturers of MMR vaccines on behalf of families of children with autism. Only he needed some evidence linking MMR to autism, and so he paid Wakefield to conduct the study (over $1million in today's figures) specifically to demonstrate a link between MMR and autism that would hold up in court.
Richard Barr worked with a small organization (JABS) to hand select subjects with parents who believed there might be a link between autism and the MMR vaccine.
Wakefield attempted to sue Deer for his investigative reporting work, which ironically gave Deer access to all of the unredacted medical records related to the study. The lawsuit was promptly dropped to prevent further access, but not before Deer got an extensive look at the records.
Around this time, Wakefield himself was under a 217 day investigation by the General Medical Council for unethical conduct which brought additional information to light.
When Deer showed the parents what the paper stated about their children, parents stated the information was not accurate, e.g. the parents of child 11 stated the onset of symptoms was months after vaccination and not 1 week as the paper states. The parent of child 11 was told his child was #13 and not included in the results. Other parents also confirmed inaccurate information in the paper, some stating that their child exhibited symptoms of autism even prior to vaccination.
Only 3 of the 11 children reported in the paper to have colitis showed signs of colon inflammation in the raw data.
Child 7 reported as exhibiting autistic behavior 24 hours after vaccination was never in his life reported to be autistic. Child 12 also was not autistic, so no more than 7 of the children in the study were confirmed as autistic.
1:05:58 - Andrew Wakefield Abused Children For Money
The children participating in the study were between the ages of 3 and 10 and over the course of a week were subjected to an extensive battery of tests and sedation. While the parental consent forms signed by the parents do list most of the procedures involved, the consent forms do not list even one single potential risk. For example, the children were each subjected to colonoscopies, a routine and life-saving part of preventative care for adults over 50, but a risky procedure for children who have thinner and weaker intestinal walls. In a separate incident, a 5 year-old undergoing a colonoscopy suffered twelve (yes 12) perforations or tears in the bowel walls, resulting not only in risk of infection, but life-long disability and complications. The parents were not informed of any of the potential risks from any of the procedures including a lumbar puncture to the spine.
Nurses and junior doctors working in the hospital stated the treatment of the children was abusive, with some nurses even walking off the job. The children did not understand why they were being jabbed with needles to draw blood or forced to drink large volumes of liquid laxatives and had to be restrained while they cried, resisted, and vomited. One child did not complete the testing due to excessive vomiting. Another child was rushed to another hospital for emergency treatment following the lumbar spine puncture. Additionally, Wakefield diagnosed all of the children with bowel disorders and prescribed anti-inflammatory medications which have known risks to adults to cause gastrointestinal bleeding and ulcers, infections, and kidney damage. These risks are compounded and even greater for children, especially those under the age 6. He was described as showing callous disregard for the pain and suffering of the child subjects.
Additionally, Wakefield administered Fudenberg's experimental drug to one of the children which had not been tested and approved. The child's father shortly after became employed as a manager at the company that would be producing (and profiting) from the experimental drug if it were to be approved.
In order to get blood samples for comparative purposes from non-autistic children, at his own child's birthday party, Wakefield offered the other children attending the party 5 pounds each for a blood sample, at one point stating that 2 children vomited and one fainted during the process, though he later retracted the statement. He did maintain that not having approval from the hospital ethics board did not mean the practice was unethical.
1:16:00 - The Part Where He Loses His License
The General Medical Council completed its review (the longest in its history) and revoked Wakefield's medical license in 2010, and the medical journal, Lancet retracted the 1998 published article with a statement that "It was utterly clear, without any ambiguity at all, that the statements in the paper were utterly false." Though disgraced by the medical community, Wakefield published a book and used the associated media opportunities to pedal it to his loyal followers. As he continues to make his money from book sales and speaking engagements and no longer stands to profit from the monovalent measles vaccine he patented (but never successfully developed), he now professes that all vaccines are dangerous to align with what his followers want to hear.
1:23:23 - CONCLUSION
This section goes into some of the current day anti-vax rhetoric using Bill Maher (who got fully vaccinated against Covid-19 during the pandemic) as a primary example. Not one to frequently drop statistical facts, he did once make the claim that there is a link between vaccines and Alzheimer's risk. A dive into the source of this claim leads us back to a presentation delivered by Fudenberg mentioned above, but no published research.
Despite Wakefield's science having been debunked a decade and a half ago, 77% of parents who refuse vaccinations for their children cite fear of autism as a reason.
Additional information on Covid-19 vaccine is shared current as of about 2021, most of which should be generally common knowledge, so once you hit the conclusion section, you can probably stop watching whenever you have had enough.
1:40:16 - Credits
Citations and sources for the video
About Fudenberg
For those who like a deep dive into the full story, The Doctor who Fooled the World by Brian Deer is recommended reading.
Unrelated: Brene’ Brown Question #6. What's the last show that you binged and loved? My Answer: I am not much of a show-binger. The closest I may have ever come to a binge was during the pandemic when we watched 2 episodes of Mandolorian every night for a week. In somewhat more recent history, I’ve enjoyed the Star Trek Discovery series.
