“so we could help in treatment and prevention”
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Andrew Wakefield
Andrew Jeremy Wakefield is an English fraudster and anti-vaccine activist. Formerly a senior surgeon, he was struck off the British medical register in 2010 for "serious professional misconduct" due to his involvement in the fraudulent 1998 Lancet MMR autism report, which falsely claimed a link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism.
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science · British former doctor (born 1956) · physician · anti-vaccine activist · film producer · film director · screenwriter · also Andrew Wakefield, Andrew J. Wakefield, A.J. Wakefield, Wakefield, A.J., Wakefield
Born 3 September 1956 · Q508568
30 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 8 entries
“That was a completely separate study. We took children according to clinical need. There was no selective recruitment.”
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“reputable physicians and pathologists.”
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“[S]howed callous disregard for any distress or pain the children might suffer”
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“Conduct[ed] the study on a basis not approved by the hospital's ethics committee.”
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“hit man who was brought in to take [him] down”
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“a ruthless, pragmatic attempt to crush any attempt to investigate valid vaccine safety concerns”
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Public attention spiked: 3,825 Wikipedia readers in one day, 5.6× the usual 688, with 1 article edits. Editors noted: remove deprecated parameter referencing now-dead CiteSeerX service
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2022· 1 entry
Wakefield's fraudulent study was included on a list of "11 of the biggest lies in history"
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2018· 2 entries
Awarded Rusty Razor Award (2018).
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The Skeptic awarded Wakefield the Rusty Razor award "for pseudoscience and bad critical thinking
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2016· 3 entries
Wakefield directed the anti-vaccination film Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe
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Which was removed from the Tribeca Film Festival by one of its co-founders, Robert De Niro, whose son is on the autism spectrum
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Wakefield directed the anti-vaccination propaganda film Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe
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2013· 1 entry
Was listed as a director of a company called Medical Interventions for Autism and another called the Autism Media Channel
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2012· 1 entry
Was awarded the Lifetime Achievement in Quackery award by the Good Thinking Society
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2011· 1 entry
Wakefield was at the top of the list of the worst doctors of 2011 in Medscape's list of "Physicians of the Year: Best and Worst"
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2010· 2 entries
For "serious professional misconduct" due to his involvement in the fraudulent 1998 Lancet MMR autism report, which falsely claimed a link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism
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The GMC found that Wakefield had been dishonest in his research, had acted against patients' best interests, had mistreated developmentally delayed children and had "failed in his duties as a responsible consultant"
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2004· 2 entries
Wakefield began working at the Thoughtful House research centre in Austin, Texas
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Co-founded and began working at the Thoughtful House research centre (later renamed the Johnson Center for Child Health and Development) in Austin, Texas
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2002· 1 entry
“What precipitated this crisis was the removal of the single vaccine, the removal of choice, and that is what has caused the furore—because the doctors, the gurus, are treating the public as though they are some kind of moronic mass who cannot make an informed decision for themselves.”
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2001· 2 entries
"by mutual agreement", then moved to the United States
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By "mutual agreement and was made a fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists", and moved to the US in 2001 (or 2004, by another account)
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1998· 2 entries
And concluding that the measles virus did not cause Crohn's disease, and neither did the MMR vaccine
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Many parents have been convinced the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine could lead to autism
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1996· 1 entry
Wakefield turned his attention to researching possible connections between the MMR vaccine and autism
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1995· 1 entry
While conducting research into Crohn's disease, he was approached by Rosemary Kessick, the parent of a child with autism, who was seeking help with her son's bowel problems and autism; Kessick ran a group called Allergy
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1993· 1 entry
Wakefield attracted professional attention when he published reports in which he concluded that measles virus might cause Crohn's disease; and two years later he published a paper in The Lancet proposing a link between t
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1956· 1 entry
Born 1956-09-03.
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