Make no mistake, the findings against Wakefield are not only in ethical conduct but also against his methodologies and manipulations, which render his findings untrustworthy. There is a whole plethora of research which demonstrate the lack of linkage between MMR and autism. If there were indeed a biological basis, the amount of research poured into this would have uncovered it by now.Is there a cover up, because of cost considerations? Some 'political witch-hunt'?Conspiracy theorising apart, consider this; The prevalence rate of autism is estimated at 1 in 100 to 1 in 200. Lets assume that ALL of them are due to MMR. It is estimated that it costs between $20,000 to $50,000 per year for up to 20 years to give an autistic child the care and developmental needs he requires. Assume 30,000 births a year in Singapore, that's 300 cases and therefore $15,000,000 per year economic costs. Consider the same 30,000 births, and assume that the cost of single dose injections are $100 more than MMR combined injection. That is an additional cost of $3,000,000 per year. That's $12,000,000 less than the previous scenario.How does that add up? If there were really a link between MMR combined vaccines and autism, nobody, least of all, the health authorities, have any sort of interest in propagating a cover up. It makes absolutely no sense. Sorry to put it in such cold hard terms. Autism is surely a difficult and personal situation to deal with, hence all the emotion around it.
