Brian Deer: the Lancet scandal

February 2004: Just ten days after Brian Deer's first report, the Wakefield allegation of an MMR-autism link was partially retracted

Andrew Wakefield: his paper fully retracted

February 2010: In a statement from the Lancet medical journal, the claims made by Andrew Wakefield and his associates, linking the MMR vaccine with autism were fully retracted. The decision - finally capitulating to Brian Deer's multi-part investigation for The Sunday Times - came just five days after Wakefield was found to be "dishonest", "unethical", "irresponsible" and "callous" by a disciplinary panel of the UK General Medical Council (GMC), following up on Deer's reports.

The statement, dated 2 February 2010, said: "Following the judgment of the UK General Medical Council's Fitness to Practise Panel on Jan 28, 2010, it has become clear that several elements of the 1998 paper by Wakefield et al are incorrect, contrary to the findings of an earlier investigation. In particular, the claims in the original paper that children were 'consecutively referred' and that investigations were 'approved' by the local ethics committee have been proven to be false. Therefore we fully retract this paper from the published record."

In a media furore similar to the events of 2004, described on this page, The Guardian newspaper reported: “The medical journal's editor, Richard Horton, told the Guardian today that he realised as soon as he read the GMC findings that the paper, published in February 1998, had to be retracted. ‘It was utterly clear, without any ambiguity at all, that the statements in the paper were utterly false,’ he said. ‘I feel I was deceived.’”

The full retraction came just two weeks short of six years after Brian Deer first revealed Wakefield's conflicts of interest and dishonest research methods, leading to the partial retraction described on this page. At that time, the Lancet dismissed most of the very serious charges found proven by the GMC panel in January 2010. Horton even wrote a book, again rejecting what he would later admit to be true.

"A prominent British medical journal on Tuesday retracted a 1998 research paper that set off a sharp decline in vaccinations in Britain after the paper’s lead author suggested that vaccines could cause autism," reported The New York Times. "The retraction by The Lancet is part of a reassessment that has lasted for years of the scientific methods and financial conflicts of Dr Andrew Wakefield, who contended that his research showed that the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine may be unsafe."

The Times said: "A British medical panel concluded last week that Dr Wakefield had been dishonest, violated basic research ethics rules and showed a 'callous disregard' for the suffering of children involved in his research. Dr Richard Horton, editor in chief of The Lancet, said that until that decision, he had no proof that Dr Wakefield’s 1998 paper was deceptive.'That was a damning indictment of Andrew Wakefield and his research,' Dr Horton said.

In the report, Times writer Gardner Harris, explained: "Dr Wakefield’s paper reported on his examinations of 12 children with chronic intestinal disorders who had a history of normal development followed by severe mental regressions. He speculated that the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine may have caused some sort of chronic intestinal measles infection that in turn damaged the children’s brains. He suggested that the combined vaccine should be split into three separate shots and given over a longer period of time.

"But an investigation by a British journalist found financial and scientific conflicts that Dr Wakefield did not reveal in his paper. For instance, part of the costs of Dr Wakefield’s research were paid by lawyers for parents seeking to sue vaccine makers for damages. Dr Wakefield was also found to have patented in 1997 a measles vaccine that would succeed if the combined vaccine were withdrawn or discredited."

The retraction didn't answer all the questions, however. Deer's investigation also revealed, in February 2009, wholesale mismatches between data in the Wakefield paper and the medical records of children enrolled in his research.

Andrew Wakefield: "my quest for truth"

Wakefield's final disgrace in 2010, when he and his research were confirmed as dishonest, contrasts with the heady days of just a few years before. On 22 April 2002, for example, he declamed to a crowd at a "Power of One Idea" rally in Washington DC, alleging not only that MMR caused autism, but that other doctors knew this and were covering it up.

"We are in the midst of an international epidemic. Those responsible for investigating and dealing with this epidemic have failed. Among the reasons for this failure is the fact that they are faced with the prospect that they themselves may be responsible for the epidemic.

"Therefore, in their efforts to exonerate themselves they are an impediment to progress. I believe that public health officials know there is a problem; they are, however, willing to deny the problem and accept the loss of an unknown number of children on the basis that the success of public health policy - mandatory vaccination - by necessity involves sacrifice.

"Neither I, nor my colleagues subscribe to the belief that any child is expendable. History has encountered and dealt with such beliefs.

"You, the parents and children, are the source of the inspiration and strength for our endeavours; our quest for truth through science - a science that is compassionate, uncom-promising and uncompromised.

"I do not mean to stir you to mutiny, but be assured that armed with this science it is in your power to force this issue, in your pediatricians office, in Congress, in the Law Courts.

"Keep faith with your instincts. They have served you well."