Andrew Wakefield - Epidemics and Effects

Epidemics and Effects

See also: Measles outbreaks in the 2000s

Physicians, medical journals, and editors have made statements tying Wakefield's fraudulent actions to various epidemics and deaths. Michael J. Smith, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Louisville, an "infectious diseases expert who has studied the autism controversy's effect on immunization rates", said, "Clearly, the results of this study have had repercussions."

The Associated Press said:

"Immunization rates in Britain dropped from 92 percent to 73 percent, and were as low as 50 percent in some parts of London. The effect was not nearly as dramatic in the United States, but researchers have estimated that as many as 125,000 US children born in the late 1990s did not get the MMR vaccine because of the Wakefield splash."

ABC News Channel WWAY3 said:

"Since Dr. Andrew Wakefield's study was released in 1998, many parents have been convinced the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine could lead to autism. But that study may have done more harm than good. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States, more cases of measles were reported in 2008 than any year since 1997. More than 90 percent of those infected had not been vaccinated, or their vaccination status was not known."

Paul Hébert, editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) said:

"There has been a huge impact from the Wakefield fiasco ... This spawned a whole anti-vaccine movement. Great Britain has seen measles outbreaks. It probably resulted in a lot of deaths."

A profile in a New York Times Magazine article noted:

"Andrew Wakefield has become one of the most reviled doctors of his generation, blamed directly and indirectly, depending on the accuser, for irresponsibly starting a panic with tragic repercussions: vaccination rates so low that childhood diseases once all but eradicated here — whooping cough and measles, among them — have re-emerged, endangering young lives."

Journalist Brian Deer called for criminal charges to be brought against Wakefield.

Despite the allegations of misconduct and fraud, Wakefield continues to rely on the monetary and emotional support of fans who continue to support him. J. B. Handley of the autism and anti-vaccine advocacy group Generation Rescue noted, "To our community, Andrew Wakefield is Nelson Mandela and Jesus Christ rolled up into one."

On 1 April, 2011, the James Randi Educational Foundation awarded Wakefield the Pigasus Award for "refusal to face reality".

A 2011 journal article described the vaccine-autism connection as "the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years".