Very, very quiet

It's gone remarkably quiet at JABS since Andrew Wakefield's erasure from the medical register. Nothing on the forum - and the forum has been updated since the verdict. Neither is there anything on the front page of the site bleating about it.

John "Cock" Stone showed his face over at Bad Science for a while, and left with a flea in his ear after his usual approach of ignoring the relevant facts (misconduct, unethical behaviour, lying etc) and trying to big up the odd sentence that doesn't entirely discredit Wakefield's research (when the rest of the document the quote is pulled from roundly discredits it). Bad Science is a bad place to try that, populated, as it is, by people who tend to look out original sources of information, and point out inaccuracies or misleading statements.

(He also showed up in the comments section of The Guardian's "Comment Is Free" - but he's not posted anything on JABS. I suspect he thinks it's beneath him now he's got a job as UK lapdog to the morons at Age of Autism.)

But I digress…

You'd think that the JABS ranters would be up in arms, but nope - nothing. Maybe this is a good sign. Perhaps Jackie Fletcher has finally realised that "Saint" Andy is nothing but a charlatan, and is quietly phasing the organisation out.

I hope so - she'll be a very brave woman if she does so.

With any luck this sorry tale is now over, and the world can get back to preventing lethal diseases without the bunch of gobshites we've had to put up with since Andrew Wakefield let loose his lies and drivel.

Oh Happy Day!

Andrew Wakefield has been struck off.

BBC News

Obviously it's not going to stop him spouting his dangerous nonsense, but it's still excellent news.

Fletcher shoots down major JABS argument

Jackie Fletcher has posted a news article, which she seems to think supports her "dangerous vaccines" agenda.

First of all, a fact:

The MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) triple vaccine was introduced in the UK in 1988 for children aged 12 to 18 months.

Good stuff.

Then, a wild leap into anti-vax territory:

…the vaccine was implicated in the death of Glasgow baby Ryan Mason. Labour MP Michael Martin wrote to the then Scottish minister for education and health, Michael Forsyth, explaining that Ryan died aged six months, 10 days after receiving the vaccine.

Tragic though this is, there's no evidence of causation here.

In fact, the article specifically states:

Later that month, with the post-mortem investigation not complete, officials advised the minister that the baby’s death was probably not vaccine-related.

Then, another fact:

A memo of 1992 records that in 1990 and 1991, for the first time since records began, no child in Scotland died from acute measles-related illness.

So, let's rewrite Jackie's post, shall we?

"MMR vaccine introduced in Scotland. Four years later, measles effectively wiped out."

How good is that?

Of course, there are fucking morons who think it should be re-introduced, in much the same way as the Red Kite has been reintroduced to parts of England.

*sigh*

The Andrew Wakefield Story

In pictures. Genius.

Vile opportunism

Aasa (a name which I suspect is simply a misspelling of "arsehole") has posted a link to a very sad story, under the heading "Another Tragedy" - given the context, the JABS website, clearly implying "Another vaccination tragedy".

A mother has been charged with killing her severely disabled and autistic son. If she has (and it's not been shown that she has), she must have been at her wits end - I feel nothing but sympathy for her; few of us can imagine the stresses she's been under for years.

However, this has nothing to do with vaccination. It's not mentioned in the story, it's not implied anywhere, except in the twisted mind of Aasa, who sees fit to post it on JABS, suggesting that there's some link, and co-opting this poor woman's grief for his/her own twisted ends - suggesting to impressionable parents who are pointed towards JABS as a support group that this is how they could end up.

Vile, vile people.