Bill Gates on Wakefield’s Vaccine-Autism Claims: ‘An Absolute Lie That Has Killed Thousands of Kids’ [VIDEO]

In an interview with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta in Davos, Switzerland, Microsoft founder Bill Gates spoke about his goal of eradicating polio by 2012. Gates’ foundation has pledged $10 billion to provide vaccinations to children all over the world, over the next decade.

Especially notable was Gates’s response to Dr. Gupta’s mention of Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s discredited 1998 study claiming a link between autism and the MMR vaccine. Said Gates:

Well, Dr. Wakefield has been shown to have used absolutely fraudulent data. He had a financial interest in some lawsuits, he created a fake paper, the journal allowed it to run. All the other studies were done, showed no connection whatsoever again and again and again. So it’s an absolute lie that has killed thousands of kids. Because the mothers who heard that lie, many of them didn’t have their kids take either pertussis or measles vaccine, and their children are dead today. And so the people who go and engage in those anti-vaccine efforts — you know, they, they kill children. It’s a very sad thing, because these vaccines are important.

The past decade has seen something very sad indeed, the undermining of public understanding that, as Gates puts it so simply, ‘vaccines are important.’ Wakefield’s 1998 study set off what will go down in the history books as an international public health disaster. The British doctor’s claims of an autism-vaccine link were not based on science but were manufactured and, as sadly discovered, made while he was receiving payments from lawyers representing families pursuing anti-MMR lawsuits. The more one reads about this case, the more one sees how financial motives came to outweigh any regards for public health.

As Gates says at the end of the interview:

By and large, it [vaccination] is the one health intervention that can get to everyone. In fact, it is so simple, people often forget what a big deal this is. The 2 million people that would have died from smallpox now don’t think, “Wow, I’m alive today because of vaccinations,” but that’s the case.

Sadly, some individuals are not alive, or not as healthy, as they might be, because they did not receive vaccinations—because, on learning about Wakefield’s ‘study,’ so many parents began to doubt and fear what would happen if their child was immunized. Gates’s comments are one further step in a changing of the tide about public mistrust about vaccines. For the sake of our children and their health, let’s hope more people can speak out publicly about what vaccines do not do—cause autism—and what vaccines do—save lives.

Previous Care2 coverage

Wakefield’s Study Linking Vaccines to Autism was ‘Deliberate Fraud’

Anti-Vaccine Crusader Wakefield Banned from Practicing Medicine

Today Show Poll: People Don’t Believe Vaccines Are Related to Autism

UPDATE: Lancet Study Retracted: Vaccines, Autism, Bad Research, and the Damage Wrought by Andrew Wakefield

Read more: health policy

Photo by DFID - UK Department for International Development.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Nancy M.

4:30PM PDT on Aug 14, 2011

When it comes to science, I find google to be a poor search egine. I prefer to read the actual scientific reports.

send a green star

Past Member .

2:14PM PDT on Aug 14, 2011

**Google: 'The Vaccine Buisness Congress' *If you have any doubts that the Vaccine Industry is nothing more than that, an $27 BILLION dollar industry.

6:28AM PST on Feb 20, 2011

According to one report I read, the average American receives about 1,000 mcg of aluminum from natural sources every day. It's the third most prevalent element and the most prevalent metal in the earth's crust - and we eat it in our foods, drink it in our water, and breathe it in our air.

Most things that are benign in small doses (such as the aluminum we absorb every day or the aluminum in a vaccine) can be toxic at higher doses. And vaccines don't have those higher toxic doses.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/165315-overview
http://www.holisticvetpetcare.com/pdf/Heavy_Metal_Posion_Hair_Analysis-4.pdf

Mit W.

6:13AM PST on Feb 20, 2011

Third post:

A lot of these amounts (other than the 0 mcg, of course) do exceed the daily absorption of aluminum from one's diet. A couple by a good amount too. But, the kidneys are very effective in flushing it out and you aren't going to be administring the vaccines every day.

And, the studies still show no problem with these aluminum amounts.

6:08AM PST on Feb 20, 2011

Second post:

Source is http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/815768/amount-of-aluminum-in-vaccines-detailed-list.

6:02AM PST on Feb 20, 2011

Here's a post referencing the, "Dr Sears", book. mcg means microgram.

I keep seeing posts stating that Pediarix has a lot less aluminum than its separate parts. Actually, the amount in Pediarix is only 25 mcg less than the sum of its parts. If you add up the separate vaccines that go into Pediarix, you can see that Pediarix only has 25 mcg less than its separate vaccines. Here is the list out of Dr Sears book. The only one that he mentions that actually has a lot LESS than the sum of its parts is Comvax. I hope this clears up some misinformation that has been posted. If anyone sees anything incorrect that I have posted, please feel free to correct it.

"ActHib - 0 mcg
PedVaxHib - 225 mcg
Prevnar - 125 mcg
Daptacel (DTaP) - 330 mcg
Tripedia (DTaP) - 170 mcg
Infanrix (DTaP) - 625 mcg
Recombivax (HepB) - 250 mcg
Engerix B (HepB) - 250 mcg
Polio - 0 mcg
MMR - 0 mcg
Chic Pox - 0 mcg
Hep A - 250 mcg

Combo Vaccines:
Comvax (hep B as Recombivax and HIB as PedVaxHIB) - 225 mcg. This particular combo vax has LESS aluminum than getting the shots separately.

Pentacel (DTaP as Daptacel, HIB as ActHIB and polio) - 1500 mcg. This shot has a lot MORE aluminum that the sum of its parts. You actually get 5 times the amount of aluminum than if you were to get the shots separately.

Pediarix (DTaP as Infanrix, hepB as EngerixB and polio) - 850 mcg

TriHIBit (DTaP as Tripedia and HIB as ActHIB) - 170 mcg"

Barbara E.

5:19PM PST on Feb 15, 2011

thanx

Susan C.

12:16AM PST on Feb 15, 2011

There are so many factual errors here, I can't begin to address them all. Please go to "Natural News" for a decidedly more thorough and balanced review of the Wakefield incident. What you've published here is simply unworthy.

Quanta K.

9:12PM PST on Feb 13, 2011

thanks.

April T.

6:09AM PST on Feb 12, 2011

Vaccines are toxic! They are not 100% foolproof too! They do fail to protect for illnesses and diseases given for all the time!