An investigation by the Times of London finds that “The doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism.”
Andrew Wakefield’s research was published in The Lancet in 1998 and involved just 12 children. However, once it was published, the paper reports that rates of inoculation fell from 92 percent to below 80 percent.
The Times‘ investigation, which it says has been confirmed by evidence presented to the General Medical Council:
“In evidence presented to the GMC, however, there has emerged potential explanations of how Wakefield was able to obtain the results he did. This evidence, combined with unprecedented access to medical records, a mass of confidential documents and cooperation from parents during an investigation by this newspaper, has shown the selective reporting and changes to findings that allowed a link between MMR and autism to be asserted.”
