Andrew Wakefield

Wakefield continued working as a film director and speaker on themes of pharmaceutical fraud and vaccine safety, notably through Protocol 7 and interviews in 2025 reiterating his historical criticism of MMR and the vaccination system.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

Attribution

Directly implicated

Vaxxed, a documentary directed by Wakefield accusing the CDC of concealing data concerning vaccines and autism, was initially scheduled before being withdrawn from the Tribeca festival following review by the festival team and scientists.

State of the evidence

Documented

Living in Texas, Wakefield sued the BMJ, Brian Deer and Fiona Godlee for defamation. Texas courts dismissed the action for lack of sufficient contacts to exercise personal jurisdiction over the British defendants; the Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal.

Attribution

Protagonist is the complainant

A series of BMJ and Brian Deer investigations compared medical records with published data and concluded that alterations or distortions were inconsistent with the source records; a BMJ editorial described the affair as an elaborate fraud.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

For more than two years, the General Medical Council examined Wakefield's conduct, particularly invasive procedures carried out on children, compliance with ethical approval, patient selection and presentation of the study.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Accused

The GMC found multiple instances of misconduct, including dishonesty, misleading presentation, failure to comply with ethical requirements and actions contrary to paediatric patients' interests. The panel also noted that blood samples had been taken from children at a birthday party in exchange for payment.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Following the GMC's findings, The Lancet fully retracted the 1998 paper, finding that several statements were incorrect, particularly regarding consecutive referrals and ethical approval.

The GMC ordered Wakefield's name to be erased from the medical register, finding that no lesser sanction would adequately protect patients and public confidence.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Wakefield sued Channel 4, the producer of Dispatches and Brian Deer for defamation. Following procedural steps and a disclosure order, he abandoned the action; the parties' combined costs were estimated at more than £500,000.

Attribution

Protagonist is the complainant

An investigation revealed that Wakefield had worked as an expert for lawyers preparing claims against vaccine manufacturers and that legal funding related to certain children in the study. The Lancet considered that this potential conflict should have been declared.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Ten authors of the 1998 paper published a retraction of the interpretation that the data could support a causal link between MMR and autism. Wakefield did not sign the retraction.

Wakefield left the Royal Free and University College Medical School. The institution had offered him the opportunity to continue or more rigorously test his hypotheses; he maintained that he had been pushed out because his findings were unpopular.

Attribution

Directly implicated

During the public presentation of the study, Wakefield recommended that measles, mumps and rubella vaccines be administered separately rather than in combined form, a position that greatly amplified the controversy and distrust of the MMR programme.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Before the 1998 publication, Wakefield participated in patent applications and commercial plans concerning diagnostic and therapeutic products linked to his hypotheses about measles and an alternative to the combined vaccine. These interests subsequently fuelled allegations of an undisclosed financial conflict.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated