- MMR:
KEY DATES IN THE CRISIS
The
Sunday Times (London) February 8 2009
Brian
Deer
October 1988 MMR triple vaccine starts in UK
after use in America since 1971
February
1996 A solicitor, Richard Barr, hires Andrew
Wakefield at £150 per hour to support a legal attack
on MMR makers as some parents raise concerns over the
vaccine
June
1996 Wakefield and Barr ask Legal Aid Board to
fund research to show a link between MMR and autism.
The board grants them £55,000
July
1996 First autistic child admitted to Royal Free
hospital for research project. Of the 12 in the
study, 11 will turn out to be litigants
June
1997 Wakefield files for patent on
“safer” single measles jab and for products
to treat autism
February
1998 The Lancet publishes paper proposing link
between MMR and autism. Wakefield, making no
disclosure of his interests, gives a press conference
recommending that, instead of the MMR, single
vaccinations be given at yearly intervals
January
2001 Daily Mail and other newspapers launch
campaigns backing Wakefield after he calls for single
vaccines. Cherie and Tony Blair refuse to say whether
their 19-month-old son Leo had received the MMR
vaccine
January
2003 Vaccination among two-year-olds falls to
78.9%, below the 95% level needed to protect the
population
February
2004 The Sunday Times reveals Wakefield’s
legal funding and children’s litigant status.
Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, describes
original paper as “fatally flawed” and
apologises for publishing it
March
2004 10 of the 1998 Lancet paper’s 13
authors, but not Wakefield, retract claim of possible
MMR-autism link
March
2005 Japanese scientists say they have evidence
MMR jab is not linked to rise in autism: instead they
noted a rise in autism after withdrawal of the MMR
jab in the country
April
2006 A 13-year-old boy becomes the first person
in the UK in 14 years to die from measles
July
2007 GMC opens professional misconduct case
against Wakefield and two other Royal Free colleagues
concerning ethical issues over the treatment of
children
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Brian Deer. All rights reserved. No portion of this
article on MMR and Andrew Wakefield may be copied,
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