JEP fin

cannot be expected to lead to a reduction in the incidence of ASD.”
In comparison with Andrew Wakefield’s article, which claimed a causal relationship between
MMR vaccines and ASD, we see that the method in this study is much more scientific and
therefore is more reputable. For example, the Wakefield study only looked at 12 individuals
with ages ranging from 3 to 10, and only one female was in the study, compared to the 31,000
children looked at in the study in Japan. Both dealt with those affected with something similar
to ASD. Other studies similar to Wakefield which have examined the relationship of trends in
MMR vaccination rates and ASD frequency and have noted a dramatic increase in ASD frequency
most strikingly in the late 1980s. But these have stirred major doubt “about the claimed causal
relationship between the MMR vaccine and ASD occurrence” as they do not show the increase in
the frequency of ASD after MMR was introduced. The information within the survey is reliable
as they had a large enough sample size in the study, as well as noting that it followed the guidelines
set by ICD-10. The source is objective and to inform the reader of the population study they
conducted as well as the results from that study.
This source will fit into the confirmation section of my writing to backup my proof. It is helpful
as a source because of how large the study was, and it expands my sources outside of something
from the United States or the United Kingdom. It may also be used when I am talking about
Andrew Wakefield’s study in my writing. The source shapes my argument in that it is yet another
large population study that supports my claim, whereas I have been unable to find a large population
study for the opposing argument. The fact that this study took place in Japan expanded
my knowledge of where the research about MMR vaccines were actually taking place, before I
thought it was all in the US and UK as that is what I have found in terms of sources.
Kaye, James A., et al. “Mumps, Measles, and Rubella Vaccine and the Incidence of Autism Recorded by Gener-
al Practitioners: A Time Trend Analysis.” The BMJ, 24 Feb. 2001.
In this source from James A. Kaye, we have a time trend analysis of vaccines causing autism in
the United Kingdom in children 12 and under, born between 1988-1993. The study was initially
supposed to be a case control analysis of those who received and didn’t receive the vaccine but
they did not have enough information to provide a meaningful estimate of relative odds. They
identified 305 children under the age of 12 whose autism diagnosis was between the years of
1988-1999, and reviewed detailed computer recorded information, and estimated the annual
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