Shannon Dingle

Wakefield lied about the sampling of children in the study, having selectively chosen subjects and data that supported his desired outcome. He broke ethics rules again and again. The other 11 authors of the 1998 study have all acknowledged the fraud and spoken against “results.”

Child medical histories in the fraudulent 1998 study were fabricated, discovered through interviews with parents of those kids. Many of the families were part of a group considering a class action lawsuit against makers of the MMR vaccine. Wakefield created evidence for them.

All six of my kids are fully vaccinated. One is autistic. The first statement has nothing to do with the second.

The anti-vac movie Vaxxed, released in 2016 was directed by Andrew Wakefield. Several years earlier, his vaccine-autism article had been retracted, the findings found to be fraudulent, medical ethics revealed to be violated, and Wakefield stripped of his medical license.

As a result of Wakefield’s lies 22 years ago, vaccine rates have dropped, outbreaks of measles have been more common, and autism is seen by some as worse than fatal illnesses. The Lancet retracted the Wakefield article on February 2, 2010, but the harm was done.

Now more research has been done about autism & vaccines — each time disproving Wakefield — than on other safety issues with vaccines or on effective supports & education strategies for autistic people. All because Andrew Wakefield lied 22 yrs ago, formally confirmed 10 yrs ago.

(And now may my mentions rest in peace , because sharing facts about Wakefield is like holding up a target.)

I also believe that Wakefield’s fraud led to a distrust of science that has led to climate change deniers and others who reject scientific data in favor of conspiracy or GOP politicians/Fox News talking points, but that’s just my theory.