Andrew Wakefield

Technology has contributed to the formation of useful inventions, and one of those innovations is the development of vaccines, whose purpose is to combat illnesses. However, the positive perception of vaccines has been tarnished by Andrew Wakefield’s publication which linked autism to vaccines. The MMR vaccine became a subject of intense discussion and the reception of this publication had escalated to an investigation. It became apparent throughout the retraction of Wakefield’s publication that many were refusing the study while others were justifying it. One may wonder how or why people allow themselves to believe in spurious information. Is self deception due to an error in our cognitive mind or a misinterpretation? If so, then what factors

Wakefield left out key information that made the data more plausible. Skeptics were projected to question the correlation of the two concepts and this propelled an investigation that would deem the data to be skewed. A partial retraction was done as a result, but dubious about its authenticity, a full retraction was done because there was no other experiment done to revise the data. However, parents were still being led astray and were prompted to believe that the data was factual. It was through premature closure, that parents were rationalizing their perception in order to provide assurance to their preexisting belief. Even after Wakefield's publication was debunked, parents possessed a notion of preservation that confirmed their parental emotions as well as their cognitive mindset. McCarthy, a mother of an autistic child was swayed into believing the study, since it validated her inclination as a parent to protect. She states, “Since when is repeating the words of parents and recommending further investigation a crime?”(McCarthy) By reciprocating of the concerns of parents, he had made himself liable for what would later be called the MMR scare. Ironically, McCarthy unknowingly confronted the basis of the misinterpretation error and that assurance can be a crime. Nevertheless, parents like McCarthy were affected by premature closure, which made them susceptible into believing Wakefield, since his validation given through his study was enough to make their notions