The Supreme Court is hearing arguments today about whether vaccine manufacturers should be protected from virtually all product liability lawsuits. At the heart of the case, says the New York Times, is the safety of the vaccines themselves. The case could have implications for hundreds of lawsuits alleging a connection between vaccines and autism. See also the Wall Street Journal.

Speaking of vaccines, Forbes says California is seeing the worst epidemic of whooping cough in almost 60 years, with more than 5,200 people infected and 9 children dead. Some of those deaths almost certainly could have been prevented if autism fears hadn’t kept people from getting vaccinated, says Forbes blogger Steven Salzberg.

Says Salzberg:

It’s not a coincidence that California is the center of the new pertussis epidemic. Vaccination rates among adults in California have been dropping in recent years, large due to the influence of anti-vaccination zealots such as Jenny McCarthy and groups such as Age of Autism.

… Everyone should have their children vaccinated. On top of that, in order to maintain herd immunity, most of us should get the pertussis booster shot if we haven’t had one in the last ten years. That’s what vaccine expert Paul Offit recommends, and I’m planning to follow his advice myself. It won’t take long, and it might save a life.

A plea for civility

Liane Kupferberg Carter, a writer who has a child with autism, writes in the Huffington Post that she’d like to see an end to the “war raging within the autism community.”

Angry arguments over such topics as vaccines, purported autism cures and neurodiversity are preventing the community from finding common ground, she says. An excerpt:

…whether you are trying to heal autism through genetic research, environmental studies, or are urging acceptance of neurodiversity, there is one thing on which everyone can surely agree: we love our children. They deserve greater awareness, acceptance and opportunity. We desperately need more research on promising treatments, and programs to meet the housing and employment needs of a population that is rapidly aging up.

On the eve of World Autism Awareness Day, I’m pleading for more civility in our community. Open debate that is not personal, petty or mean. There’s just too much at stake. How can we expect Congress to listen to us, when we are so divided among ourselves?

Our children deserve our respect. Our commitment. Our hope.

We aren’t the enemies.

Autism is.

Related post here.

Editorial writers at the Wall Street Journal hail the recent court rulings that dismiss allegations of a link between vaccines and autism in children. An excerpt:

The rulings follow the same court’s judgment last year against claims that measles-mumps-rubella shots in combination with other thimerosal-containing vaccines cause autism. And they reinforce many comprehensive scientific studies, including one from the Institute of Medicine, that have ruled out any causal link.

Autism is a frightening diagnosis that puts enormous burdens on families, but blaming vaccines without evidence only harms other families who might be frightened enough not to immunize their children. The fate of children with autism would be far better served if the activists who have devoted their resources to lawsuits would support research to discover its true causes, and to helping those children realize their full human potential.

From the Los Angeles Times, AP/Wall Street Journal:

A special federal court ruled Friday that the vaccine additive thimerosal does not cause autism. The ruling, which came in three separate cases, follows a parallel ruling in 2009 that autism is not caused by the combination of thimerosal with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Experts said the rulings would likely be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, as the earlier ruling has been.

More than 5,300 parents have filed claims seeking damages because they believe vaccines caused autism in their children. The court, a branch of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, expressed sympathy for the families but concluded that they had failed to prove their case.

From the [UK] Times, [UK] Guardian, Austin [TX] American-Statesman (blog):

Andrew Wakefield, the discredited British doctor whose research triggered a wave of opposition to childhood vaccines, has resigned unexpectedly from the autism center he founded in Austin, Texas.

The announcement comes only a few weeks after a British regulatory agency ruled that Wakefield acted dishonestly and irresponsibly in research that led to the 1998 publication of a paper which claimed a link between autism and the vaccination for measles, mumps and rubella.

Wakefield is now defending his medical license in England, and does not have a license to practice medicine in the United States. In a statement, representatives of the Thoughtful House Center for Children said Wakefield had left his post voluntarily to avoid allowing the controversy to overshadow the center’s work.

Related posts here.

The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal says the Lancet’s retraction of Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 vaccine study comes “about 12 years too late.” The research paper, which purported to link vaccines with autism, launched a global vaccine scare, caused vaccination rates to plummet, and triggered waves of measles outbreaks.

Even as overwhelming scientific evidence showed vaccines to be safe, the editors say, the respected research journal turned aside questions about the credibility of Wakefield’s study. It was only after Britain’s medical regulator confirmed that Wakefield had acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly” that the Lancet said it “fully retract[s] this paper from the published record.”

The Lancet episode shows how even reputable publications can become conduits for junk science when political causes run hot. Especially amid the scandal over politically motivated climate science, the public needs professional journals to be scrupulous about their standards and honest about the science.

From the [UK] Times,  [UK] Guardian, BBC, [UK] Telegraph:

A leading medical journal has retracted a discredited research paper that sparked an international health crisis by claiming a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Lancet’s announcement follows a finding by a British oversight panel that Andrew Wakefield (above), the lead author of the 1998 paper, had been irresponsible and dishonest in carrying out the study.

Lancet editor Richard Horton told the [UK] Guardian that the finding by Britain’s General Medical Council (GMC) last week had prompted the journal’s decision. “It was utterly clear, without any ambiguity at all, that the statements in the paper were utterly false,” he said. “I feel I was deceived.”

Wakefield’s research prompted a significant drop in the number of children who were immunized for mumps, measles and rubella, contributing to a resurgence of measles cases in Britain.

Wakefield moved across the Atlantic to Austin, Texas, five years ago to help establish an autism clinic shortly before the GMC investigation began. Wakefield, who does not have a medical license in the United States, says he is not practicing medicine but rather working on research as executive director of the Thoughtful House autism center. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Related articles:

MMR scare doctor makes a fortune in U.S. — [UK] Times

‘Callous, unethical and dishonest’: Dr. Andrew Wakefield — by Brian Deer in the [UK] Sunday Times

Earlier posts:

Doctor censured over research claiming autism-vaccine link

Newspaper: Autism-vaccine scare began when researcher faked data

(Photo from [UK] Guardian)