Hccc Reference 09/1695 Tom Sidwell March 1, 2010 To: Ms Leanne Evans Investigation Officer Health Care Complaints Commission Re: Meryl Dorey and the Avn Response to Hccc Complaint

It should be noted that Ms Dorey’s claim that “Dr Wakefieldʼs study was only the first of many to indicate a very strong and, in some cases clinically verifiable connection between vaccination and the development of ASDs [autism spectrum disorders]” is incorrect; the Wakefield paper itself does not come to that conclusion. The discussion of the Wakefield paper clearly states “We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described” and suggests further research into such an association. The hype surrounding the MMR vaccine from Wakefield comes from a video released by the Royal Free hospital NHS trust, in which Wakefield asserts no causal link, yet calls for immunisations against measles, mumps and rubella to be separated [2].