"One of the main problems with vaccination, as with most medical treatment, is the possibility of side effects. The benefits of vaccination to individuals and the public as a whole need to be weighed against the side effects sometimes experienced by certain individuals. Such weighing of risks and benefits is proving exceptionally difficult for many parents following the controversial link between the triple jab for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and autism. One report (Wakefield et al., 1998) published in a medical journal (The Lancet) led to a nationwide debate on whether the benefit of the triple jab is sufficient to outweigh the possible risks of a child developing autism after having the jab. Although only a small sample of children was used for the research and no other research has backed up the claim, it immediately resulted in a reduced number of children being immunised. While the worry was over mixing the vaccines and combining the various antigens in one jab to reduce the number of injections given, this led to a common misconception that vaccines in general are potentially unsafe and resulted in a sharp fall in the number of children being vaccinated against MMR. Since then, The Lancet has itself criticised the paper's claims, following revelation of 'a conflict of interest' on the part of the author. Despite this, public confidence has yet to be regained, as many still question the benefits of MMR. In a similar case in 1974, the whooping cough vaccine was linked to brain damage and convulsions (Matthews, 1998). Vaccination rates fell to 31% as parents sacrificed public health and welfare for the personal well being of their child."

"This led to the worst outbreak of the disease for 20 years, before further investigation failed to reveal any relationship between the two. While both incidents highlight public scepticism towards the risks of vaccination, they also show the devastating effects of a decrease in vaccination rates (let alone no vaccination at all)."

from National Institute for Medical Research

- The disasterous experience of a fall in vaccinations in the UK