Roy Pounder warned of damage his team planned to public confidence in MMR

This page is research from an investigation by Brian Deer for the UK's Channel 4 Television and The Sunday Times of London 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

After the MMR scare broke, at a press conference called to launch the Lancet paper, it was often suggested that the media were to blame, or that results were misinterpreted. The letter below, however, by Professor Roy Pounder, Andrew Wakefield's mentor and collaborator, written six weeks before the event, shows that the Royal Free was well aware of the damage to vaccination rates that was likely to follow. Pounder even advises the government to prepare extra stocks of single vaccines for the aftermath of the attack