Dr. Wakefield’s false data led to a national scare over vaccinations, and in some cases, a campaign against them. Although the publication of his fabricated results could have potentially been much more harmful, there are several lessons we can take away from this fiasco:
- Do not rely on the media for concrete information, especially when it comes to your health
- Do not mistake hype for confirmation of fact
- Do not trust any paper that has not been peer reviewed before publication
Shortsightedness in some people led to them refusing to vaccinate their children. What led to this poor decision-making was the misconception that correlation equals causation. Just because the MMR vaccine happens to be given at the time many symptoms of autism show themselves does not mean that the vaccine causes autism. The question of correlation vs. causation is one of the most important things to consider in any scientific inquiry and was purposefully ignored in Wakefield’s falsified results.
