Andrew Wakefield is for all intents and purposes the single man responsible the modern incarnation of anti-vaccine hysteria. His 1998 study that “implicated” MMR vaccines as the cause of autism was discredited many years ago but he continued to sell the message that vaccines were the enemy. Of course others jumped on his bandwagon and as MMR vaccines became completely exonerated it became necessary to expand the claims to keep the movement alive.
But until now, it was still possible that Wakefield was just an idiot who stood behind his own horribly designed study. But now that may all change. A new article published in The Times by Wakefield’s nemesis Brian Deer makes allegations that if true mean that Wakefield is more than just a shitty scientist but actually a deliberate fraud who actually falsified his data.
If this is true then Andrew Wakefield is an evil monster who I think deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail for his crimes.
[...] FYI – vaccinations may not (ok, do not) cause autism and asks a hard question. Likewise Skepacabra: Andrew Wakefield-incompetent scientist and fraud. Nicholas Whyte notes: Andrew Wakefield’s faked research kills children and observes: [...]