The number of cases of the unpleasant and contageous illness ‘Mumps’ passed five thousand in 2019, more than four times the previous year’s number.
Most of these cases were in young adults whose parents did not give the, the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccination due to unfounded fears that MMR casues autism. This bogus claim was made by the discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield and has been thoroughly debunked.
The MMR vaccine had made mumps relatively rare until Wakefield’s scaremongering caused a drop in vaccination rates.
Not only is this fear campaign anti-scientific, it also illustrates the deep-seated and unjustified fear of autism that persists in our society. Thousands of parents were willing to risk their children developing painful, debilitating and even fatal diseases rather than ‘risk’ them being autistic.
Neurodivergent Labour will continue to campaign against irrational fear of autism and vaccinations, in defence of science and for acceptance of neurological diversity.