A Berkshire community pharmacist who allegedly told a patient her child would “grow out of” autism and that the condition is frequently caused by the MMR vaccine has been suspended for four months by the General Pharmaceutical Council’s fitness to practise committee. 

Ravinder Walia was working at the Village Pharmacy in Windsor on May 24, 2021 when she made a number of comments to an individual named Patient A based on misinformation about the vaccine, the FtP committee established in a hearing that took place over January 20-23 this year. 

Patient A, who is the mother of an autistic son, said Ms Walia had made comments to the following effect: “Oh it’s fine, he’ll grow out of it, my daughter did.

“It isn’t lifelong, you can take vitamins; and vaccinations are the reason that a lot of children have autism.”

Ms Walia also allegedly told Patient A that the MMR vaccine had been proven to be a leading cause of autism and that one in every 100 children given the vaccine develop autism. 

Ms Walia allegedly advised Patient A to “detox” her son from the effects of the vaccine, in part by giving him vitamins.  

Ms Walia was also said to have written down the names of people and organisations espousing anti-vaccination views on a piece of paper handed to Patient A. The names included noted vaccine sceptics Dr Andrew Wakefield and Robert F Kennedy. 

While she did not attend the hearing, Ms Walia provided written representations in which she admitted providing Patient A with written information – which she claimed was on the patient’s request – but denied that she had made spoken comments in which she spread misinformation about the MMR vaccine or revealed personal information about her family.

Ms Walia presented a version of events that claimed she had cited Dr Wakefield as an example of someone spreading misinformation and who Patient A should “be mindful of”, and that the conversation had focused on Covid vaccines rather than the MMR jab.  

Patient A refuted the suggestion that she had asked Ms Walia to write down the names of vaccine sceptics and said she “did not want it” but felt “uncomfortable about confronting the registrant and did not want to be made to feel guilty for vaccinating her son”. 

The FtP committee said it preferred Patient A’s version of events as it was “inherently more plausible” and found that Ms Walia had offered professional advice that was contrary to public guidance on vaccines and autism. 

The committee ruled that she had abused her professional position to spread misinformation, which it described as a “fundamental departure from evidence-based, accepted scientific research” that could potentially “contribute to a significant risk to public safety”.

It found that a ‘reflective essay’ supplied by Ms Walia did not show insight into the potential impact of her misconduct or demonstrate steps to “remedy the attitudinal issues” that had contributed to them, and that it could not be ruled out that the misconduct would be repeated in the future. 

However, it decided that removing her from the register would be “entirely disproportionate” and instead handed her a four-month suspension during which she must complete written reflections to demonstrate that she understands the seriousness of her professional failings and will not repeat them in future.