Revealed:
secret payments to MMR doctor Wakefield at heart of vaccine crusade
This page
is material from the award-winning investigation by Brian Deer for The Sunday Times of London, the
UK’s Channel 4 TV network and BMJ, the British
Medical Journal, which exposed vaccine
research fraudster Andrew Wakefield |
Investigation
summary
The
engine of the international MMR scare was
an English lawsuit, later acknowledged to be meritless,
funded with taxpayer's money by the UK's Legal
Services Commission (formerly
the Legal Aid Board). From 1996,
substantial sums were paid to Andrew Wakefield, his supporters
and associates [be amazed by a Who's Who at this site],
hired by a lawyer, Richard Barr, to support the
attack on the vaccine. The following
table was released to Brian Deer in
December 2006, under the Freedom of
Information Act
Notes:
In the above letter to Brian
Deer, the Legal Services
Commission refers to sums being
allowed by a court. This means
the costs assessment process,
carried out in this case by a
specialist judge, after all
claims in the litigation were
known. This court reduced
numerous payments from even
higher figures than those
reported above, but did not
determine whether work was
carried out effectively, whether
the calibre of the individuals
named above was appropriate to
the task, or whether the enormous
scale of this activity was
warranted. Now the figures are
published, all of these questions
are up for debate.
In an email to Brian Deer, Andrew
Wakefield said: "The costs
judge has revised the sum
payable, by nearly £100,000 and
I am happy to abide by this
ruling." This suggests that
his original bill, for generic
work, may have been more than half
a million pounds.
The Legal Services Commission
letter to Brian Deer makes it
clear that the sums stated are
for the generic case -
common work, it explains, carried
out for all claiments. This
implies that substantial further
payments may have been made for
individual reports on children
alleged to have been injured by
MMR. |
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