Bill Gates Says It’s An Absolute Lie To Link Vaccines And Autism

Dr. Wakefield’s study once showed a link between vaccinations and autism. Too bad it was based on fraudulent data and “an absolute lie”. Bill Gates has pledged 10 billion dollars to make it the “year of the vaccines”.

Specifically, Gates’ $US10 billion will be spread over 10 years. In an interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta for CNN, Gates has some ideas on how to improve vaccination:

We have to do three things in parallel: Eradicate the few that fit that profile — ringworm and polio; get the coverage up for the vaccines we have; and then invent the vaccines — and we only need about six or seven more — and then you would have all the tools to reduce childhood death, reduce population growth, and everything — the stability, the environment — benefits from that.

As for the Jenny McCarthys of the world who stand against vaccines, well, he has some choice words for them as well.

“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. It’s a very sad thing, because these vaccines are important.

I’m with Bill. Check out the whole Bill Gates interview at CNN. [CNN]

Discuss

(34 Comments)
  • [–]

    wsDK_II

    Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:16 AM

    When will we see Steve Jobs doing something like this? Bill is leading the world with his good work!

    • [–]

      Bernhard de Kok

      Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:34 AM

      Is this relevant?

      • [–]

        wsDK_II

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:51 AM

        Yes it is – Bill Gates has rounded up many of the world leading CEO’s to help with making the world a better place anyway they can, and Steve Jobs has denied their requests on a number of occasions to help out – i would think that a man who is a rich as Steve would want to help out those who are not as well off.

      • [–]

        Bernhard de Kok

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:12 AM

        My first reaction to this was that this is another Microsoft / Apple B.S situation. That’s why I ask if it is relevant.

        I think Mr. Jobs has his own health issues at the moment. Also it is easy for Gates to be magnanimous with 50 Billion to donate 10, he’ll still have 40. Jobs has only 5 billion. Still a hell of a lot I admit and I can’t answer for his behaviour.

        But let’s not put Mr. Gates on too high a pedestal. He’s had a great life and it’s no great hardship for him to be generous as he’ll still have more left over than almost anyone on the planet.

  • [–]

    Bernhard de Kok

    Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:25 AM

    Gates can go to Hell. He’s pushing vaccine so naturally he’d say that.

    My son was bright and normal at 4.5 years of age. Then he had his MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and had an immediate reaction. His glands all went swollen, he couldn’t breath and he was hospitalised. After hospital he regressed massively and started to display serious anti-social behaviours. He could read simple books before and now he couldn’t. By the time he got to high school he was barely qualifying at grade 3 level.

    He has since been assessed as having Asbergers Syndrome, a form of autism. He wasn’t autistic before.

    Stop this crap now and stop spreading lies. There is BIG money in big pharmaceutical companies that want this truth to die.

    • [–]

      wsDK_II

      Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:56 AM

      Mate, i happen to have Asbergers Syndrome and i had a hard time adjusting to normal day life as a kid, and i still do to a certian point. But all the medication that was given to me just didnt help, i only was able to suppress my anger and other issues once my parents got divorced – an event that really changed me.

      But that is not to say that vaccines dont work – i believe that any work that can help better this place needs to be supported.

      • [–]

        Bernhard de Kok

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:06 AM

        I’m sorry to hear of your problem.

        That doesn’t take away from the fact that for my son, the MMR injection DID affect him and it occurred in 1993. Well before I ever heard of Dr. Wakefield or Asbergers or that such a thing could ever happen.

        Vaccines are beneficial to the majority of the population, there is no denying their benefit to those people. But, to say that Vaccines don’t adversely affect anyone is stupid. People are allergic to some and allergic reactions can cause many issues, one of them death. A lot of people are allergic to penicillan for example.

    • [–]

      Cameron

      Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:01 AM

      By the same rational we should stop wearing seatbelts because they can cause damage to your body in a car accident.

      Just because something has the potential to cause harm doesn’t make it harmful overall. Every year there are millions upon millions of children vaccinated with no adverse reactions, those children are then protected from horrendous diseases that can and do cause death. Just like with the seatbelts, until there is a viable alternative this is our only solution to eradicating these diseases one and for all.

      Also in your argument you offer no proof that the vaccine caused autism. You provided a simplified chain of events. Until I see medical proof that what you say is in fact true I see no reason to treat your story as a lie, just the same as you suggest others do about taking vaccines in the first place.

      • [–]

        Bernhard de Kok

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:47 AM

        I said in one of my other posts that vaccination helps most people. I know that vaccination has saved many many more lifes than if it didn’t occur. Vaccination is very important. But it doesn’t mean that some people react badly to it, beause some people do.

        Allergic reaactions happen.

        Vaccination is the best thing since sliced bread for 99.9% or so of the population. But not everyone.

        I’m sorry if I can only give a simple chain of events to explain my boys problem, but it was simple. He got the injection, was allergic, had to go to hospital due to bad swelling and couldn’t breath. This was directly attributable to the injection, the doctors told me he had an allergic reation. When he got out of hospital, he was a different person. 48 hours earlier he was perfectly normal and then he was autistic (in 48 hours). That’s a hell of a coincidence. And it’s the same coincidence reported by other people and it always involved a measles vaccine, that’s another hell of a coincidence.

    • [–]

      Jester

      Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:23 AM

      Firstly, I really do feel for you, your son and your family. These types of unexpected and undeserved events are difficult and traumatic at the best of times, not least of all when a child is involved.

      What I would also like to say is that without vaccines, many more children would be affected by the diseases themselves, rather than the minority who are affected by the vaccine. Perhaps Gates is overstepping the mark here, but I still believe, despite painful stories such as yor own, that vaccines are beneficial. What I would like to see happen, on top of what Gates is attempting to achieve, is research into the cause of reactions like the one your son had so that we don’t have the negative offsetting the positive.

      • [–]

        Bernhard de Kok

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:52 AM

        Thanks Jester. You’ve said exactly what I’m attempting to say. I know that vaccine has saved thousands upon thousands of lives.

        It is imperative that work with vaccine continues.

        What I just want to say is that people can have a bad reaction to vaccine.

    • [–]

      pan.sapiens

      Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 12:45 AM

      Correlation != causation. Coincidences happen.

  • [–]

    Bernhard de Kok

    Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:28 AM

    Vaccine helps most people. But…

    There is a large proportion that are either allergic or for some other reason affects them in a deleterious manner.

    I don’t think vaccine should stop, BUT it must be investigated to find out why is seriously affects many children.

    Denial is not the answer.

    • [–]

      Rastus Oxide

      Monday, February 7, 2011 at 10:50 AM

      “It must be investigated to find out why it seriously affects many children.”

      It HAS been investigated, Bernhard, all the science says that there is no link between autism and vaccinations.

      I’m sorry about your son but some people just develop autism. If you could time travel back and stop him getting immunised then you would simply have an autistic child at risk of dying from whooping cough.

      Immunisation saves lives.

      • [–]

        Bernhard de Kok

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:22 AM

        And allergic reations can cause death. Undeniable.

      • [–]

        Bernhard de Kok

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:32 AM

        How can you just develop autism?

        For that to happen it has to be a change in the body doesn’t it? What causes the change? Answer that.

        Give me an answer why there are so many more people being diagnosed with autism lately?

        My apologise … I’m getting wound up becuase this is very personal, but I know for a fact that the boy was perfectly normal than 48 hours later after he came out of hospital (due to complications from the MMR injection) he changed completely. It was like a switch was turned off. Just too big of a coincidence and others have reported exactly the same reaction after an MMR, which later on was reported by Wakefield.

        And by the way, science didn’t prove that there is no link. Science said they couldn’t prove a link. Theres a big difference.

      • [–]

        Keith

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 1:54 PM

        It has been studied and those studies reviewed and they all say that there is NO LINK to autism. Your arguments are the same rhetoric that all anti-vaxers use.
        The reason why the average age of death is now into the 70′s and 80′s is because the infant mortality rate has dropped by a huge %age is because of vaccinations. Damn you anti-vaxxers are misguided fools who have a huge body count due to gullible parents listening to your shit!

      • [–]

        Keith

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 1:56 PM

        The increase in autism cases is solely due to the changing of definition of autism and recognising milder forms of the disease.
        You people really do people with autism a disservice by misdirecting funds and research away from the cause and treatments by sprouting this crap.

      • [–]

        Bernhard de Kok

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 2:18 PM

        If you read everything I said, you’ll see that I’m not against vaccination. Clearly you don’t read very well. I think vaccination is better than no vaccination by a huge margin.

        But I think you have your head in the sand if you think there can be no adverse reactions.

        I’m living with the consequences of when things go wrong.

        What I’m upset about is people saying with 100% conviction that vaccination hurts no one. And that is B.S.

        Vaccination is better then no vaccination by a huge margin. But it like any medication or treatment is not full proof nor perfect nor free from side effects.

        I am pro vaccination. And I am anti morons who believe in absolutes.

      • [–]

        Keith Drain

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:08 PM

        You THINK vaccinations are what caused your son’s Asbergers. There have been numerous studies and reviews who have concluded there is NO LINK between Autism and vaccinations.
        With that said (I’ve said it twice now) of course there are people who have reactions to vaccinations. These are a very small minority and the affects of the vaccination are all sorts of things but Autism is not one of them.
        You claim big Pharma conspiracies in one hand and than say you are pro vaccination.

        Sure there is evidence (in botched studies) of vaccinations causing autism, but none of these hold up to the scrutiny of peer review and there certainly are good studies and bad studies. It just happens to be that the ones showing a link are the bad ones. Science is self correcting, it has looked at the evidence and determined that VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM.

      • [–]

        Tom Reynolds

        Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 9:53 AM

        A peer reviewed, verifiable paper without made up data from a disgraced “scientist” and we’ll all get on board with the “vaccinations cause autism” caper.

        Except no paper exists and the previous writings that showed the link have been utterly discredited.

  • [–]

    Des

    Monday, February 7, 2011 at 10:30 AM

    Vaccines and autism have absolutely NO link. Anyone who believes they are linked is being wilfully blind or is hugely gullible. It’s called science, not fairy tales.

    • [–]

      Bernhard de Kok

      Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:21 AM

      Putting your head in the sand doesn’t help either.

      The reports that say there is no link are funded by large pharmacuetical companies. They have a vested interest to state that there is no link. Look, they may be right, but in my case I can’t see it. In 48 hours my boy had a total shift in personality.

      And what cannot be denied, is that my boy was hospitalised because of the MMR injection. They called it an allergic reaction, and lots of people get allergic reactions to medications and vaccines.

      Whether or not the vaccine caused Autism may be up for question but no one can deny that allergic reactions can cause death. And if my boy didn’t get to hospital straight away he would have been dead. And it was that caption on Bill Gates picture that has me so wound up.

      • [–]

        Des

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 12:15 PM

        With all due respect, where’s your evidence? You’re making extraordinary claims, you’d better have something to back it up.

        It’s unfortunate that your son has been afflicted with autism, it really is. However, pouncing on something like vaccination is not the answer. It’s a fundamentally anti-science position. Your son had a bad reaction to a vaccine, and you say “For that to happen it has to be a change in the body doesn’t it? What causes the change? Answer that.” – Since you’re making claim you have to back it up with something more than correlation. Correlation is not causation.

        And you know what else, Gates in that quote is fundamentally correct. When you’ve been to developing countries in Asia and Africa and seen what difference vaccines can make in places high at risk, it is tantamount to killing a child to deny them a vaccine.

      • [–]

        Bernhard de Kok

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 3:09 PM

        @Des, you talk of respect, needing evidence, extraordinary claims and back up? Well, unlike you, I’m not hiding behind a pseudonym, but using my actual name. And the hospital has all proof of the incident and I have the written reports from the doctors that classified my son with Asbergers. What I don’t have is proof that he was normal before the MMR, just my sad memories. But I have no reason to lie, It doesn’t get me anywhere. I’m not telling anyone to not vaccinate. I agree with vaccination, I’m against saying it’s foolproof. I’m against saying there are no side effects, or no one will be allergic to anything. You should vaccinate if you can, but don’t bury your head in the sand, just because you want to feel good about everything.

        After my sons allergic reaction I recalled that he was also allergic to penicillin as I was, but I never had the MMR, so I wondered if this was an issue or gene that could be passed onto your children. As a consequence, I don’t allow any of my other children to have penicillin or the MMR. But I have let them have all the other vaccinations, as I want them to be as safe as possible, but not take risks.

        It’s a difficult choice.

  • [–]

    Rastus Oxide

    Monday, February 7, 2011 at 10:51 AM

    Penn and Teller give their 2 cents: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCo

  • [–]

    matt

    Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:30 AM

    can someone explain to me how massively reducing the childhood death rate would reduce population growth?

    seriously, I’m confused…

    also, I agree with Bernhard. while there may be no direct link, its possible the allergic reaction triggered it. people are allergic to EVERYTHING, and more should be done to manage the risk than “shoot first, see what happens” because I don’t think anyone is going to argue that a major allergic reaction at a young age is something parents are ok with.

    however, given the odds, and the greater good, vaccinate your kids.

    • [–]

      Bernhard de Kok

      Monday, February 7, 2011 at 12:19 PM

      I agree with given the odds, unless you know otherwise, you should vaccinate your children.

      • [–]

        A supporter

        Monday, February 7, 2011 at 5:28 PM

        Bernhard, you have my whole-hearted support. My son also had a allergic reaction to vaccination, but can I prove it? No. The human body is a very complex mechanism, and “proving” cause-effect relationships is very hard. How long did it take to show a link between smoking and cancer? Judging by how many people still smoke, many people are still in denial.

        For those with an open mind, there is ample evidence to suggest that there are dangers in vaccination. The reverse is also true, in that there are dangers in not vaccinating. The challenge for parents is trying to make an informed decision, and unfortunately pharmaceutical companies are not know for their forthright disclosure (Thalidomide anyone?).
        And as a final comment, research also shows that the rise in autism and autism spectrum disorders cannot be explained by the simple “better diagnosis” excuse.

        And as a final comment, research also shows that the rise in autism and autism specutem disorders

  • [–]

    Keith Drain

    Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:09 PM

    A Supporter yes and the reason why there is a rise in Austism disorders is because the condition has been re-defined and now more mild cases are under the Autism umbrella where that never use to be the case.

  • [–]

    James Carson

    Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:29 PM

    unfortunately, violent reactions are a rare, but unaviodable side effect of vaccinations. this is because a vaccination involves infecting a person with a small amount of the disease being vacinated against, or a very similar disease with less severe effects.

    i dont know what would have happened if your child hadn’t had the vaccine, but it is a possibility that he could have gotten the full blown disease and died.

    aspergers syndrome commonly develops during adolescence rather than childhood unlike harsher forms of autism, so you cannot be sure that it was caused by the vaccination. the subdued nature of your child, after being hospitalized, could have been an effect of the emotional trauma of almost dying.

  • [–]

    wastebasket

    Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 8:45 AM

    For those who think the evidence indicates vaccinations are safe, have a read of wealth of data at Dr Mercola’s website.

    Its a hard decision especially as its to do with your childs wellbeing. Whatever side of the fence you choose, make it an informed decision.

    Btw another good source of info on the MMR at least is on the GAPS diet website (Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBrid). See the resources section.

    Happy reading.

    • [–]

      Keith

      Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 1:25 PM

      I will make an informed decision and I WILL vaccinate my children when I have them. How many of your sources are peer reviews Wastebasket? If the answer is none (and that will be the answer) their info belongs in the wastebasket!

  • [–]

    jasonk

    Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 9:09 PM

    Evidence showing no link does not mean there is no link, simply that they could not find a link.

    Most people forget that the earth was once flat.

    For the record, I have two young children, fully immunized (to their age).

Join The Discussion