The New York Times (1/13, A28) editorialized, “The report that first triggered scares that a vaccine to prevent measles, mumps and rubella might cause autism in children has received another devastating blow to its credibility. The British Medical Journal has declared that the research was not simply bad science, as has been known for years, but a deliberate fraud.” Despite Brian Deer’s investigative report, “some parents still consider Dr. [Andrew] Wakefield a hero, and others have moved on to other theories, equally unsupported by scientific evidence, as to how vaccines might cause autism.” The Times concludes that such parents “need to recognize that failure to vaccinate their children leaves them truly vulnerable to diseases that can cause enormous harm.”

The effects of this erroneous research continues to have a negative effect. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that while more than 99 percent got at least one vaccine, the immunization rate for the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine dropped from 92 percent in 2008 to 90 percent in 2009. That’s a worry, given the recent rise in cases of measles.

Lundy Law urges all new parents to make sure that all of your children are properly vaccinated. If you have questions about vaccinations, you can find a wealth of information online at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/.