Earlier version of Lancet scare research that launched worldwide MMR-autism alarm

This page is research from an investigation by Brian Deer for The Sunday Times of London and the UK's Channel 4 Television into a campaign linking the MMR children's vaccine with autism. | Go to part I: The Lancet scandal | Go to part II: The Wakefield factor

In February 1998, a worldwide vaccine scare was launched by Andrew Wakefield at the Royal Free hospital, London, spearheaded by a paper published in the Lancet medical journal dated February 28 1998. But Brian Deer's ongoing investigation unearthed an earlier version of the same research, circulated within the Royal Free in August 1997. The body text of the manuscript is reproduced below. Elsewhere at this site is a detailed comparison between data presented in this version and in the version published in the Lancet