Link between the MMR vaccine and Autism

One key argument in the debate over the link between the MMR vaccine and Autism is that the research by Dr Andrew Wakefield that was published in the Lancet journal was incorrect and possibly fraudulent. Evidence that supports this claim is shown in the results of tests carried out on hundreds of thousands of children which shows no link between Autism and the vaccine. Dr Andrew Wakefield only showed the findings of tests carried out on twelve children, some with behavioural problems, prior to receiving the vaccine. 


Opposing evidence that challenges this claim is that 2 of the 3 vaccines released 1988 had to be withdrawn for safety reasons and so there is a proven history of an unsafe vaccine that was recommended by the department of health for children, being on the market. There is also questioning about the withdrawal of the vaccine in many countries across the world and their low autism rates compared to those in America. 12 children who received the MMR vaccine began to shown symptoms of autism and behavioural problems within days and these studies were recorded in the Lancet Journal. The government however, states that if they knew what they do now, back when the research was published, it would not have been done so and thus the hype over the dangerous vaccine, leading to an outbreak of measles, mumps and rubella, would not have been unleashed. 


Confidence in a knowledge claim is affected by the reliability of the evidence because we must know whether the research was conducted on a small or large scale and whether it was taken by a person biased to a certain outcome. In the case of the MMR vaccine debate Dr Andrew Wakefield concluded that 11 out of the 12 children brought to the Royal Free hospital for tests, had contracted bowel diseases however doctors who conducted the tests stated that a nothing was wrong with 7 of the children. 

My first Theory Of Knowledge lesson

I have never done anything quite like T.O.K before and it was very interesting to personally see links with philosophy and to a lesser extent, religion. I really enjoyed looking at how we learn and know through language, emotion, sense perception and logic because it was interesting to see that we learn most through language at school however growing up as a child we explored and picked up on things through sense perception. I enjoyed looking at the difference between knowledge, beliefs and opinions because I found it very relevant to the media flooded society that we live in. We read things in magazines, books and newspapers, watch things on television and listen to things on the radio which we often class as knowledge however really when we look closely they are peoples beliefs and opinions being preached to us as if they are and should be factual. We trust in these sources but should be more sceptical before quoting them as facts.