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February
28, 2001
Jack Orman
Executive Producer
ER
Warner Brothers Studios
4000 Warner Boulevard
Building 140, Room 201
Burbank, California 91522
Dear Mr. Orman:
The American Medical
Association, representing over 300,000 physicians and medical students in
the United States, would like to commend the producers and writers of the
ER episode “A Walk in the Woods” which aired on February 15, 2001.
This program
concerned the needless death of an unvaccinated child from measles. The
child’s death humanized the vitally important role that vaccination
programs play in the protecting the public health of all Americans.
The writers of this
episode are apparently aware of the recent allegations that the measles,
mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism. Current scientific
opinion, however, is that there is simply no data to suggest a link
between the MMR vaccine and autism. In fact, a recent study published in
the February 24, 2001 issue of The British Medical Journal also
finds no evidence to support the theory that the MMR vaccine is related
to the onset of autism.
Measles epidemics
were once common throughout the world. Although the mortality rate from
measles has been greatly reduced in the United States since the
introduction of the vaccine, measles continue to cause more than one
million deaths in developing countries each year. This underscores the
importance of vaccines as a safe and a critically important component in
protecting the health of all Americans.
Thank you again for
providing this important public health message to the American people.
Sincerely,
Randolph D.
Smoak Jr., MD
President
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