Wakefield vaccine research fraud
The secret patent
A key finding of Deer’s investigation was that, even as the public alarm over vaccine safety caused by Andrew Wakefield gathered pace – triggered by his calls in 1998 for parents to shun the three-in-one MMR in favour of single shots – he’d already secretly filed a patent application in London claiming to have discovered his own, allegedly safer, single shot.
Get Deer’s book: The Doctor Who Fooled the World
Following Deer’s reporting, Wakefield published a statement denying this – a denial he repeated often in the years that followed. But his June 1997 application on this page, below, was obtained exclusively by Deer and (with a June 1998 application including his claim that vaccines cause autism) conclusively proves not only Wakefield’s shocking conflict of interest, but that he has lied about that conflict ever since.
READ HOW DEER’S WAKEFIELD
INVESTIGATION WAS CHECKED
The medical school where Wakefield worked later explained that he’d filed the patent from his home address, without their knowledge or approval, and documents obtained by Deer show that Wakefield demanded complete legal ownership be transferred to him as a condition of him leaving his last academic post in December 2001.
Read the full story in The Doctor Who Fooled the World.
Get Deer’s book: The Doctor Who Fooled the World
As the public alarm Wakefield created took hold across the UK, here’s the full follow-up vaccine patent he filed in June 1998, without his employer’s authority, including his claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism.
READ HOW DEER’S WAKEFIELD
INVESTIGATION WAS CHECKED
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