Andrew Wakefield facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Andrew Wakefield
Wakefield at an anti-vaccine rally in Warsaw, Poland, in 2019
Born	Andrew Jeremy Wakefield (1956-09-03) 3 September 1956 (age 68) Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital, Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England
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 British activist who used to be a doctor. He lost his medical license because of a study he published in 1998. This study wrongly suggested a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism.

The news about his study caused many people to stop getting vaccinated. This led to outbreaks of measles around the world. Measles is a serious illness that can cause many problems and even death. Andrew Wakefield used to be a surgeon in London. He worked at the Royal Free Hospital and 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, he helped start a research center in Austin, Texas. He worked there until 2010. After that, he became known for speaking out against vaccines.

Wakefield's 1998 paper was published in a medical journal called The Lancet. He claimed he found a new bowel problem linked to autism. But other scientists could not find the same results. In 2004, a reporter named Brian Deer found that Wakefield had not told people about money he was getting. Wakefield could have made a lot of money selling special test kits. Most of the other scientists who worked on Wakefield's paper then said they no longer supported his ideas. The General Medical Council (GMC) in Britain looked into Wakefield's actions.

In 2010, the GMC decided that Wakefield had not been honest in his research. They said he did not act in the best interest of his patients. He also treated children with developmental delays unfairly. The Lancet then completely removed Wakefield's 1998 paper. They said parts of the paper were false and that Wakefield had "tricked" the journal. A few months later, Wakefield lost his medical license in the UK. This was partly because he had purposely made up information in his research. A British court also stated that there was no good scientific evidence to support Wakefield's idea that the MMR vaccine caused autism or bowel problems.

In 2016, Wakefield directed a film called Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe. This film also spread ideas against vaccines.

Early Life and Education

Andrew Wakefield was born on 3 September 1956. His father, Graham Wakefield, was a brain doctor, and his mother, Bridget d'Estouteville Matthews, was a general doctor. He was born in Taplow, England. When he was a student at King Edward's School, Bath, he was the 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.

Medical 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 in animals. He continued this research with a special scholarship.

In the late 1980s, Wakefield returned to the UK and focused on research. He joined the Royal Free Hospital in London in the 1990s. He worked there until he left in 2001. From 1995 to 1998, he was part of a team studying bowel diseases.

After leaving the Royal Free Hospital, Wakefield moved to the United States. He helped start the Thoughtful House research center in Austin, Texas. This center studied autism. He continued to promote the idea of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, even though he admitted it was "not proved."

In February 2010, Wakefield resigned from Thoughtful House. This happened after the British General Medical Council (GMC) found that he had acted unethically and dishonestly in his research. The GMC said he was "dishonest and irresponsible" in his earlier autism research in England.

In 2013, Wakefield was listed as a director of companies related to autism. He also directed the anti-vaccination film "Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe" in 2016. This film was removed from the Tribeca Film Festival by Robert De Niro, whose son has autism.

In 2020, news reports said that Wakefield had become a leading figure in the anti-vaccine movement. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he promoted his old, disproven claims about vaccine safety. He spoke at events, warning that vaccines "will kill us" and called for protests against them.

In 2025, investigative journalist Brian Deer identified Andrew Wakefield as one of the main leaders of the anti-vaccine movement.

Claims About Measles Virus and Crohn's Disease

Back in the UK, Wakefield worked on liver transplants in London. In 1993, he published reports suggesting that the measles virus might cause Crohn's disease, a type of bowel 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. A group of experts in Britain reviewed many studies in 1998. They concluded that the measles virus did not cause Crohn's disease, and neither did the MMR vaccine.

In 1995, while researching Crohn's disease, Wakefield was contacted by a parent whose child had autism and bowel problems. This parent was part of 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 School of Medicine. He left in 2001 by "mutual agreement." He was reportedly asked to leave after he refused to do a proper study to check his 1998 paper.

Wakefield is not allowed to practice medicine in the UK or the US. He lives in the US and has followers there. This includes Jenny McCarthy, who wrote the introduction for Wakefield's book. She believes her son's autism-like symptoms were caused by the MMR vaccine.

The Lancet Study and Its Problems

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 condition called "autistic enterocolitis." It also hinted at a link between this bowel problem, autism, and the MMR vaccine. The authors said that the parents of eight children believed their child's behavior problems started within two weeks of getting the MMR vaccine.

The paper said that no direct link had been proven. However, before the paper was even published, Wakefield held a press conference. He called for the MMR vaccine to be stopped until more research could be done. This was later criticized as "science by press conference." According to BBC News, it was this press conference, not the paper itself, that caused the public scare about the MMR vaccine. He told reporters that it was a "moral issue." He said he could no longer support using the three-in-one MMR shot. He suggested parents should get separate vaccinations for measles, mumps, and rubella, spaced out by a year.

In November 2001, Wakefield resigned from 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." In February 2002, Wakefield said the problem was that single vaccines were removed. He felt doctors were treating the public as if they could not make their own choices.

After the First Controversy

Wakefield continued his research in the United States after leaving the Royal Free Hospital in December 2001. He worked with another researcher, Jeff Bradstreet, to study the possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

In February 2004, the controversy about Wakefield's work started again. He was accused of having a conflict of interest. A reporter, Brian Deer, wrote in The Sunday Times that some parents in Wakefield's study were found through a lawyer. This lawyer was preparing a lawsuit against vaccine makers. The Royal Free Hospital had received money for the research from a legal aid group. Deer also reported that the lawyers had paid Wakefield personally a large sum of money. Wakefield had not told anyone about these payments.

After Brian Deer's report, The Lancet editor, Richard Horton, said Wakefield's research was "fatally flawed." He believed the paper would have been rejected if they had known about Wakefield's conflict of interest. Ten of Wakefield's twelve co-authors then withdrew their support for the paper's main idea. They stated that no direct link between the vaccine and autism was proven.

Legal Actions and Findings

In November 2004, a TV show called Dispatches showed Brian Deer's investigation. It revealed that Wakefield had applied for a patent for a single measles vaccine before he started his campaign against the MMR vaccine. This raised questions about his true reasons. The patent application stated that the MMR vaccine caused autism in some infants.

In January 2005, Wakefield sued Channel 4, Brian Deer, and The Sunday Times for libel. However, he later tried to stop the case until after the General Medical Council (GMC) finished its investigation. A judge ruled against Wakefield, saying he wanted to use the lawsuit to scare critics.

In December 2006, Brian Deer released records showing that Wakefield had received a lot of money for building a case against the MMR vaccine. These payments started two years before his paper was published. Within days of Deer's report, Wakefield dropped all his lawsuits. He was ordered to pay all the legal costs of the people he sued.

Other Concerns About the Study

Questions were also raised about Wakefield's data. A former student said Wakefield ignored lab results that did not fit his idea. An independent check of a lab working with Wakefield also questioned the accuracy of the data.

In June 2005, a BBC show reported on a study of blood samples from autistic and non-autistic children. It found almost no trace of the measles virus in the samples. The few samples that had the virus were just as likely to be from children without autism. 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 the bowel disease Wakefield described.

General Medical Council Hearings

From July 2007 to May 2010, the UK General Medical Council held a long hearing about Wakefield's professional conduct. They looked into charges against Wakefield and two colleagues. The charges included:

• He was paid by lawyers who were suing vaccine makers.
• He ordered medical tests like colonoscopies and spinal taps on children without proper medical reasons. These tests were not approved by the hospital's ethics board and were not in the children's best interest.
• He was dishonest about how patients were chosen for the study. He also lied about the children's health problems and when they started.
• He bought blood samples for a small fee from children at his son's birthday party. He even joked about this later.
• He showed "callous disregard" for any pain or distress the children might suffer.

Wakefield denied these charges. On 28 January 2010, the GMC ruled against Wakefield on all issues. They said he had "failed in his duties as a responsible consultant." They also said he acted against his patients' interests and was "dishonest and irresponsible" in his research. On 24 May 2010, he lost his medical license in the UK. This was the strongest punishment the GMC could give. They said Wakefield had "brought the medical profession into disrepute."

Claims of Fraud and Conflict of Interest

In February 2009, The Sunday Times reported that Wakefield "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 witness interviews.

On 5 January 2011, the BMJ (British Medical Journal) published an article by Brian Deer. It was titled "How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed." Deer said that after looking at the medical records of the 12 children in the original study, he found:

• Three of the nine children said to have regressive autism did not have an autism diagnosis at all. Only one clearly had regressive autism.
• The paper claimed all 12 children were "previously normal," but five had existing developmental problems.
• Some children were reported to have had behavior problems days after the MMR vaccine. But records showed these problems started months later.
• Normal bowel test results were changed to "non-specific colitis" after a 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 recruited through anti-MMR groups. The study was paid for by lawyers planning a lawsuit.

In an article that went with Deer's report, the BMJ editors said: "Clear evidence of falsification of data should now close the door on this damaging vaccine scare... There is no doubt that it was Wakefield." They called his paper an "elaborate fraud."

In a follow-up article on 11 January 2011, Deer said Wakefield had planned to make money from the MMR vaccine scare. He said Wakefield planned to launch a business that would profit from new medical tests and lawsuits. Wakefield predicted he could make over $43 million a year from test kits for a new condition he called "autistic enterocolitis."

Journal Retractions

On 2 February 2010, The Lancet officially removed Wakefield's 1998 paper. The retraction stated that claims in the paper were false. The next day, another journal removed a paper by Wakefield about research on monkeys. In May 2010, The American Journal of Gastroenterology also removed a paper by Wakefield that used data from the 12 patients in The Lancet article.

On 5 January 2011, British Medical Journal editors suggested that Wakefield's other publications should be checked and removed if needed.

Wakefield's Response

As of January 2011, Wakefield continued to say he was innocent. He stated that his research was not a trick and there was no fraud. He also said he did not try to make money from his findings. He claimed his research results had been found by others in five different countries. He said he lost his job, career, and country. He believed he was being unfairly targeted.

Wakefield said that Brian Deer was a "hit man" hired to take him down. He also suggested that public health officials and drug companies were part of a conspiracy to discredit him. He even hinted they paid bloggers to spread rumors about him.

Brian Deer's Response

Brian Deer challenged Wakefield to sue him if he believed he was innocent. Deer pointed out that all of Wakefield's previous lawsuits had been dropped or lost.

In January 2012, Wakefield did file a lawsuit in Texas against Deer and the BMJ. He accused them of false claims of fraud. The BMJ said it stood by its reports. In August 2012, a judge dismissed Wakefield's lawsuit. The judge's decision was upheld in September 2014, and Wakefield was ordered to pay all legal costs.

On 5 April 2011, Brian Deer was named the UK's specialist journalist of the year. The judges said his investigation of Wakefield was a "tremendous righting of a wrong."

Political Activism

In 2015, Wakefield was supposed to speak against a bill in Oregon. 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 spoke to students at Life Chiropractic College West. He told them to oppose a bill that would remove non-medical vaccine exemptions. On 3 July 2015, Wakefield took part in a protest in California against a new law that removed personal belief exemptions for school vaccines.

Many people have described Wakefield as someone who believes in conspiracy theories about vaccines. This includes news organizations and public health experts.

Vaxxed Film

In 2016, Wakefield directed the film Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe. The film claims to show a "cover-up" by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It suggests this cover-up led to a rise in autism. The film was removed from New York's 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. The festival's founder, Robert De Niro, who has a child with autism, changed his mind about including it. Wakefield called this "censorship." A professor of epidemiology wrote that Vaxxed misrepresents science. He said it harms public trust in vaccines and attacks honest scientists.

Selected Publications

Books

Journal articles

(Retracted, see , PubMed) (Retracted, see , PubMed,  Retraction Watch)

See also

In Spanish: Andrew Wakefield para niños

• H. Hugh Fudenberg
• List of scientific misconduct incidents