A faked study linking the MMR vaccine to autism scared a generation — and cost lives

In 1998, Andrew Wakefield, a British surgeon and researcher, published a paper in The Lancet, one of the world's most respected medical journals, based on a study of twelve children. It claimed to have found a link between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. The paper received enormous publicity and frightened many parents into avoiding the vaccine.

Other scientists could not reproduce the findings, and doubts grew. In 2004, an investigation by journalist Brian Deer revealed that Wakefield had serious undisclosed conflicts of interest — he had been paid by lawyers suing vaccine makers and stood to earn large sums from a rival test kit. Most of the paper's co-authors withdrew their support. A lengthy inquiry by the UK General Medical Council found that Wakefield had been dishonest, had acted against his patients' interests, and had mistreated the developmentally delayed children in the study.

In 2010, The Lancet fully retracted the 1998 paper, stating that elements of it had been falsified and that the journal had been 'deceived.' Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register for serious professional misconduct. But the damage was done: the scare he ignited caused vaccination rates to fall in several countries, leading to outbreaks of measles — a disease that had been brought under control — and to preventable illness and deaths. Wakefield became a leading figure in the anti-vaccine movement, and the false link he promoted has been thoroughly and repeatedly disproven.