On Feb. 2, many parents and professionals within the special education community were shocked when the 1998 medical study that originally linked autism with childhood vaccinations was officially retracted by the renowned British Medical Journal Lancet. According to the official statement by the Journal’s editors, “it has become clear that several elements of the 1998 paper… are incorrect, contrary to the findings of an earlier investigation.”
The retraction comes at the conclusion of a medical inquiry of the study which has found that Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues who conducted the study committed medical-misconduct by acting dishonestly, irresponsibly and falsifying their findings. As a result, the doctors may be stripped of their medical licenses.
To many in the medical community, these findings are no surprise since the 1998 study had already been widely discredited after many co-authors had publicly rejected their findings. However, these findings have not changed the opinions of many parents who continue to support the vaccine-autism link. Therefore, it appears that the debate will continue.
See the official story published in Time Magazine here.
