Summary of the Article
The article I am going to analyze was
published by Anders Hviid and their team in Annals
of Internal Medicine (ACP), on March 5, 2019. According to the researchers,
there is a strong link between mumps, measles, autism, and rubella (MMR)
vaccine, which is why people are worried about whether their children should be
vaccinated or not (Hviid et al. 2019). It has long been believed that the use
of the MMR vaccine can increase the risks of autism in children. In order to
prove their viewpoints, Anders Hviid and their team got over 650,000 children
involved in the study. The years of their birth were from 1999 to December
2010. They made the wise use of the Danish population registries in this study.
Survival analysis of the time to autism diagnosis with Cox proportional hazards
regression was also used for estimating the level of seriousness of this issue.
The results of this study revealed that only 6500 children with measles and
mumps were diagnosed for autism, and unvaccinated kids had yielded an adjusted
autism hazard rate of 0.93. In the meantime, no risks for autism were found in other
children who were being given the MMR vaccination. This study made it clear
that the notion that the MMR vaccination increases the risks for autism has
nothing to do with reality.
The fact is that the MMR vaccine is safe to
be used in situations when children have mumps, rubella, and measles. The first
dose must be given around nine to fifteen months of age, followed by a second
dose at the age of six years. After these two doses, over 96 percent of people
have been protected against measles, mumps, and rubella, and only two of them have
complained about autism. The MMR vaccination is also good for those who have
weak immunity, and for those who have HIV/AIDS. Within a few hours, the disease
can be cured if vaccination is done quickly and proficiently.
Ethical Issues Discussed in the Article
The first ethical issue discussed in this
study is that information of the participants was collected from multiple
sources, such as from psychiatrist wards of reputed hospitals and private
children clinics. It is a matter of ethical consideration as the privacy of
those children should be the top priority. Though their data or personal
details were not shared with anyone, it became difficult for Anders Hviid and
their team to collect, organize, structure and store data precisely and
accurately. It took them many months to complete this project, and during this
time, their core responsibility was to ensure the privacy of participants
regardless of their age, class, gender or background. In the beginning, it
looked like the experts were aware of the significance or value of protecting
user data, but when they began sharing results with the public, they told the
actual names of participants.
Another problem with this study is that they
collected information or got participants from Denmark involved. It was better
for Anders Hviid and their team to involve children from different parts of the
country/world. The chance is that those living in Denmark are safe due to the
kind of MMR vaccination being given to them. It does not mean children living
in other parts of the world will also remain safe. Maybe, some of them will
develop autism while getting the MMR vaccination.
Another concern is that this study was
conducted on children who were born between 1999 and December 2010. I think
that it was good if Anders Hviid and their team had chosen a specific age group
for their study. For example, they could test their hypothesis on children
aging from 0 to 4 years, in order to come up with more précised and clearer
results.
The Dimensions of the Issue
As far as the dimensions of this issue are
concerned, we have studied in our class that respect should be given to all
human beings irrespective of their age groups (Degrazia, 2017). In this
particular study, I found that Anders Hviid and their team did not pay much
attention to the protection of user data. They shared detailed names of the
children (the participants) on the web in order to get the public involved in the
issue. The experts also discussed different risk factors of autism, and it
looks like certain variables with missing values were still used to conduct the
study. This impacted their analysis to an extent, even though they were able to
prove their hypothesis: the MMR vaccination does not cause autism in children
with measles and mumps. In order to come up with better and satisfactory
results, the researchers included a missing value category in their analysis.
The benefits of measles and mumps vaccination
in preventing illnesses, disability and death have been well documented.
Fortunately, only a handful of cases of autism have been recorded in the last
few years. For example, in the United States, the licensed measles and mumps
vaccination saved the lives of up to 17,000 children in 2015, and only one of
them had developed autism, which was not because of the use of MMR vaccination
but due to an undisclosed reason. While sharing health-related data with the
public, it is mandatory for experts like Anders Hviid to communicate in a
simple and easy way, as their results or research projects could impact the
lifestyles and mindset of numerous people. For instance, they should have
communicated with the public in a different way rather than sharing information
of the children openly and giving tough times to them and their families.
References
Hviid, A., Hansen, J. V.,
Frisch, M., & Melbye, M. (2019, March 05). Measles, Mumps, Rubella
Vaccination and Autism: A Nationwide Cohort Study. Retrieved from https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2727726/measles-mumps-rubella-vaccination-autism-nationwide-cohort-study
Degrazia, D. (2017). The
Ethics of Animal Research: What Are the Prospects for Agreement? Animal
Rights, 369-380. doi:10.4324/9781315262529-25
