Ladies and gentlemen , a bout of clapping for Andrew Wakefield , the disgrace British doctor whose"fraudulent"study on the MMR vaccine and autism helped to trigger the anti - vaccination movement . The Skeptic Magazinehas awarded him with this year’s“Rusty Razor ” award for pseudoscience and bad critical thought process .
Wakefield ’s 1998 paper has beendescribed by scientistsas “ the most damaging medical put-on of the last 100 years . " In a study of just 12 kid , published in the journalThe Lancet , Wakefield and his team proposed a potential link between autism and the morbilli , mumps , and rubella ( MMR ) jab . At a press conference , he last even further and suggested we should stop using the treble MMR inoculation and called for a return to three single injections . Fired up by some very careless medium coverage , the study lead off to gain a huge amount of public attention worldwide , leading to a sudden falloff in inoculation rate across the UK and beyond .
However , you might have noticed that the study now has bold crimson “ pull back ” stamps all over it .
It took several years to fully sink in , by which time the damage had been done , but it eventually became clear that many of his claims were unsupported by scientific evidence . In 2004 , investigative diarist Brian Deerwrote a major storyfor The Times aboutWakefield ’s undisclosed financial involvement . Deeralso uncoveredin 2009 how Wakefield had “ changed and misreported outcome ” in the landmark subject field by shrink from with the patients ' data .
Shit really hit the rooter in 2010 , when The Lancet officially resile the newspaper publisher . In the same year , the General Medical Council found Wakefield guilty of “ serious professional misconduct ” and take up off him of the Medical Register , mean he could no longer de jure use as a physician in the UK . Wakefield has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing . To this twenty-four hour period , he continues to direct documentaries and print book purporting this widely discredited mind .
So , why is Wakefield only receive the “ Rusty Razor ” award now in 2018 ?
The anti - vaxxer movement has had an horrible revivification in recent years , in go prompting a famed hike of well preventable diseases across the highly-developed world . Just last week , the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionreleased a reportthat found the bit of US shaver under the age of two who have n’t received any life - redeem immunizations has quadrupled since 2001 .
In the words ofSkeptic Magazine , “ Wakefield ’s bequest is long - last . ”
