Vaccines and Autism

Description https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2831678/pdf/182e199.pdf The pdf shown above (paste into your browser window to access it) is a report released by the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It reports a decision by the Lancet (the leading medical science journal in the United Kingdom) regarding their decision to retract a 12 year old research study that linked the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism. There are a growing number of people around the world, but particularly in the USA and Europe, who refuse to vaccinate their children because of fears that these vaccines, which include MMR, are very likely to cause them harm. Chapter 1 of your text discusses the scientific method and why it is a useful way to understand and evaluate the all the processes and phenomenon in our world, including those related to biology. The scientific method includes hypothesis testing and control studies, which are often used to evaluate the usefulness of medical procedures like vaccination. After you have read the article, please answer the question (see below) and prepare a 500 word essay to discusses the value of the scientific method in medical research with specific emphasis on the way in which the study failed to follow the scientific method and how that lead to erroneous conclusions regarding the value of vaccines to treat diseases like measles, mumps and rubella. Do you think that the way in which they conducted the study compromised their conclusions, which was that there was a link between the administration of the MMR vaccine and autism?