Many share blame for this appalling episode, but as Lisa Rickard reminds us, trial lawyers who backed Andrew Wakefield played a special role [Forbes “Apothecary”] Earlier here, etc.
Many share blame for this appalling episode, but as Lisa Rickard reminds us, trial lawyers who backed Andrew Wakefield played a special role [Forbes “Apothecary”] Earlier here, etc.
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I hope some vaccine manufacturer brings a civil RICO claim against the trial lawyers. that would be sweet. Or better yet a kid plaintiff who got some preventable disease sues them because his parents refused to vaccinate because of this BS.
Can you identify ANY act of mass stupidity that doesn’t end up involving the media as actual contributors?
@David:
I think it’s more credulous lack of investigation than “mass stupidity” on the part of the media, leading to mass ignorance by a public that mistakenly depends on the press. An investigation of Andrew Wakefield (such as Brian Deer eventually did) would have revealed (using public sources) that Wakefield held the patent on a competing measles vaccine. Had the safety of the measles vaccine used in the used in the measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine been called into doubt and replaced, the amount the trial lawyers (US & UK) paid him, would have been chump change compared to the royalties he’d have received.