Andrew Wakefield facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Andrew Wakefield
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Wakefield at an anti-vaccine rally in Warsaw, Poland, in June 2019
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Andrew Jeremy Wakefield
3 September 1956 Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital, Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England
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| Education | King Edward's School, Bath |
| Alma mater | St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London |
| Occupation | Former physician, anti-vaccination activist |
| Known for | Lancet MMR autism fraud |
| Spouse(s) | Carmel, m. 32 years, divorced |
| Partner(s) | Elle Macpherson (2017–2019) |
| Children | 4 |
Andrew Jeremy Wakefield (born 3 September 1956) is a former doctor from Britain. He is known for a study he published in 1998 that wrongly claimed a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. This study was later found to be based on false information.
Wakefield was removed from the list of doctors allowed to practice medicine in the UK. This happened because of his involvement in The Lancet MMR autism fraud. This was a 1998 study that falsely said the MMR vaccine caused autism. After this, he became known for speaking out against vaccines. The publicity around his study caused many people to stop vaccinating their children. This led to outbreaks of measles around the world and many deaths.
He used to be a surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital in London. He also taught at the Royal Free and University College School of Medicine. He left these jobs in 2001 and moved to the United States. In 2004, Wakefield helped start a research center in Texas. He worked there until 2010, when he resigned after the British General Medical Council made findings against him.
Wakefield's 1998 paper in The Lancet claimed to find a new bowel problem linked to autism. However, other scientists could not find the same results. A reporter later found that Wakefield had hidden financial reasons for his study. Most of the other authors on Wakefield's paper then took back their support for his findings. The General Medical Council (GMC) then investigated Wakefield for serious misconduct.
In 2010, the GMC found that Wakefield had been dishonest in his research. They also said he had acted against his patients' best interests. The Lancet officially took back Wakefield's 1998 paper. They said parts of the paper were fake and that Wakefield had "deceived" the journal. Three months later, Wakefield was removed from the UK medical register. This meant he could no longer practice medicine in the UK. A British court also stated that there was no real scientific support for Wakefield's idea that the MMR vaccine caused autism. In 2016, Wakefield directed an anti-vaccination film called Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.
Contents
Early Life and School
Wakefield was born on 3 September 1956 in Taplow, England. His father was a brain doctor and his mother was a general doctor. He went to King Edward's School, Bath, where he was captain of his local rugby team.
After school, Wakefield studied medicine at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He became a fully qualified doctor in 1981. In 1985, he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Career and Research
From 1986 to 1989, Wakefield worked at the University of Toronto in Canada. He was part of a team studying problems with small intestine transplants. He continued this research with a special fellowship.
Claims About Measles and Crohn's Disease
Back in the UK, Wakefield worked at the Royal Free Hospital in London. In 1993, he published reports suggesting that the measles virus might cause Crohn's disease. Two years later, he published another paper suggesting a link between the measles vaccine and Crohn's disease. However, later research did not support his ideas. Experts in Britain reviewed many studies and found no link between the measles virus or the MMR vaccine and Crohn's disease.
In 1995, a parent of a child with autism, Rosemary Kessick, asked Wakefield for help. She believed her son's bowel problems and autism were linked. Kessick ran a group called Allergy Induced Autism. In 1996, Wakefield started looking into possible links between the MMR vaccine and autism.
At the time of his MMR research, Wakefield was a senior lecturer at the Royal Free Hospital. He left in 2001 and moved to the US. He was reportedly asked to leave after he refused to do more studies to prove his 1998 paper.
Wakefield later helped set up and lead the Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas. This center studies autism. He continued to promote the idea of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, even though it was not proven. He resigned from Thoughtful House in 2010. This happened after the British General Medical Council found he had been dishonest in his earlier autism research.
Wakefield is not allowed to practice medicine in the UK or the US. He lives in the US and has many followers, including Jenny McCarthy. She wrote the introduction for his book, Callous Disregard. She believes her son's autism-like symptoms were caused by the MMR vaccine.
The Lancet Fraud
On 28 February 1998, Wakefield was the main author of a study published in The Lancet. The study looked at twelve children with autism. It suggested a new problem called "autistic enterocolitis." It also hinted at a link between this bowel problem, autism, and the MMR vaccine. The paper said that parents of eight children linked their child's "behavioral symptoms" to the MMR vaccine. They reported these symptoms started within two weeks of vaccination.
The paper said that no direct link had been proven. However, before it was published, Wakefield spoke at a press conference. He called for the MMR vaccine to be stopped until more research was done. This was later criticized as "science by press conference." According to BBC News, this press conference, not the paper itself, caused the MMR vaccine scare. He told journalists that it was a "moral issue" and he could no longer support the triple MMR vaccine. He suggested parents should choose single vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella, given one year apart.
In November 2001, Wakefield left the Royal Free Hospital. He said he was asked to leave because his research results were "unpopular." The medical school said he left "by mutual agreement."
Investigations and Legal Actions
In November 2004, a TV show called Dispatches investigated Wakefield. The reporter, Brian Deer, found evidence that Wakefield had applied for a patent for a single measles vaccine. This was before he started campaigning against the MMR vaccine. This raised questions about his true reasons.
Deer also showed that another researcher working with Wakefield had not found the measles virus in the children from The Lancet study.
In January 2005, Wakefield sued Channel 4 and Brian Deer for libel. However, he later tried to stop the case until after the General Medical Council (GMC) finished its investigation. The judge, Justice David Eady, ruled against Wakefield. The judge said Wakefield wanted to use the lawsuit to look good and stop critics, without having to prove his claims.
In December 2006, Brian Deer found records showing that Wakefield had been paid a large amount of money. This money was to help build a case against the MMR vaccine. These payments started two years before his paper was published in The Lancet. After Deer's report, Wakefield dropped all his lawsuits and was ordered to pay all legal costs.
Other Concerns and Findings
Wakefield's data was also questioned. A former student said that Wakefield ignored lab results that did not fit his ideas. An investigation of another lab also questioned the accuracy of the data in Wakefield's claims.
In June 2005, the BBC show Horizon reported on a study of blood samples from 100 autistic children and 200 children without autism. They found that 99% of the samples had no measles virus. The few samples that did have the virus were just as likely to be from non-autistic children. This study found no link between MMR and autism.
Major health organizations like the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in the US and the UK National Health Service have found no link between vaccines and autism. Medical reviews have also found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism or bowel disease.
General Medical Council Hearings
From July 2007 to May 2010, the UK General Medical Council (GMC) held a long hearing. They looked into charges of serious misconduct against Wakefield and two colleagues. The charges included that he:
- Was paid by lawyers who wanted to sue MMR vaccine makers.
- Ordered medical tests like colonoscopies and spinal taps on children without proper approval. These tests were not needed for the children's health.
- Acted dishonestly by not telling how patients were chosen for the study. He also gave false information about the children's health problems and when they started.
- Bought blood samples for £5 each from children at his son's birthday party. He even joked about this later.
- Did not care about the pain or distress the children might suffer.
Wakefield denied these charges. On 28 January 2010, the GMC found Wakefield guilty on all charges. They said he had "failed in his duties as a responsible consultant" and acted against his patients' interests. On 24 May 2010, he was removed from the UK medical register. This was the most serious punishment the GMC could give. It meant he could no longer practice medicine. The GMC said Wakefield had "brought the medical profession into disrepute."
Fraud and Conflict of Interest
In February 2009, The Sunday Times reported that Wakefield had "changed and misreported results in his research." This made it look like there was a link with autism. This was based on medical records and interviews.
In April 2010, Brian Deer wrote a report in the BMJ. He explained how normal lab results from the hospital were completely changed to "abnormal" in the medical school. These changed results were then published in The Lancet. On 2 January 2011, Deer showed tables comparing the original hospital data for the 12 children with the changed data used in The Lancet article.
On 5 January 2011, BMJ published an article by Brian Deer called "How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed." Deer said his research found:
- Three of the nine children reported to have regressive autism did not have autism at all. Only one clearly had it.
- The paper said all 12 children were "previously normal," but five had existing developmental problems.
- Some children were reported to have symptoms within days of MMR, but records showed they started months later.
- Normal colon results were changed to "non-specific colitis" after a "research review."
- The parents of eight children were reported to blame MMR, but 11 families made this claim. Removing three of these claims helped make it look like there was a 14-day link.
- Patients were found through anti-MMR campaigners. The study was paid for by lawyers planning lawsuits.
An editorial in the BMJ said there was "clear evidence of falsification of data." They concluded that Wakefield's paper was an "elaborate fraud."
In a follow-up article on 11 January 2011, Deer said Wakefield planned to make money from the MMR vaccine scare. Wakefield, with the father of one of the boys in the study, planned to profit from new medical tests and lawsuits. The Washington Post reported that Wakefield thought he "could make more than $43 million a year from diagnostic kits" for his new condition, "autistic enterocolitis."
In October 2012, a study found that Wakefield's 1998 paper was the most cited retracted scientific paper. It had been cited 758 times, and the reason for its retraction was "fraud."
Journal Retractions
On 2 February 2010, The Lancet officially took back Wakefield's 1998 paper. They stated that claims in the paper about children being "consecutively referred" and investigations being "approved" were false.
The next day, another journal, NeuroToxicology, withdrew another paper by Wakefield. This paper, about research on monkeys, tried to link vaccines to autism.
In May 2010, The American Journal of Gastroenterology also took back a paper by Wakefield. This paper used data from the same 12 patients as the article in The Lancet.
On 5 January 2011, British Medical Journal editors suggested that Wakefield's other publications should be checked and taken back if needed.
Political Activism
Wakefield was scheduled to speak against a bill in Oregon in 2015. This bill would remove non-medical reasons for not vaccinating children for school. The meeting was canceled after it became clear Wakefield planned to testify.
On 24 April 2015, Wakefield received standing ovations from students at Life Chiropractic College West. He told them to oppose a bill that would remove personal belief exemptions for school vaccines in California.
Wakefield has been called a conspiracy theorist by many news outlets and public health experts. This is because of his anti-vaccine work.
Vaxxed Film
In 2016, Wakefield directed an anti-vaccination film called Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe. The film claimed to show "an appalling cover-up" by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It said this deception caused a huge increase in autism. The film was removed from New York's 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. This happened after the festival's founder, Robert De Niro (who has a child with autism), changed his mind about including it.
Ian Lipkin, a professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, wrote about the film. He said that if Vaxxed was science fiction, it would be interesting. But as a documentary, it "misrepresents what science knows about autism." He added that it "undermines public confidence in the safety and efficacy of vaccines."
Images for kids
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Wakefield at an anti-vaccine rally in Warsaw, Poland, in June 2019
See Also
In Spanish: Andrew Wakefield para niños
- H. Hugh Fudenberg
- List of scientific misconduct incidents
