Fraudulent study: MMR vaccine controversy

Research published in 1998 by the UK’s Andrew Wakefield continues to have ramifications today. The discredited research made some parents fear having their children vaccinated, and today, some anti-vaccination proponents continue to cite the research.

The research tenuously linked the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine to the development of autism.

A toddler being vaccinated

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Aotearoa New Zealand is at high risk of a measles outbreak. The MMR vaccine is free to all New Zealanders. Children are vaccinated with two doses at 12 months old and 15 months old. However Health New Zealand advises that younger babies may require an earlier vaccination during outbreaks or if travelling to a country with an outbreak.

Learn more from Health New Zealand.

Rights: Bialasiewicz, 123RF Ltd

Falling vaccination rates

Before we had vaccinations, many children died of diseases like the measles. However, because of fear of vaccines and ignorance, many countries suffered negative side-effects from Wakefield's research. In an article in UK’s Sunday Times in 2009, journalist Brian Deer reported that, after the publication of the Wakefield paper – and the subsequent reporting of the results in mainstream media – rates of inoculation in the UK fell from 92% to below 80%.

In 2024, a survey reported that the false belief in a link between the MMR vaccine and autism still endured as a measles threat persisted.

Publisher retracts Wakefield’s research paper

The research by Wakefield and his team was found to be wrong. The respected British medical journal The Lancet, where the research was first published, took the unusual step of officially retracting the paper on 2 February 2010.

The retraction follows the ruling of the UK’s General Medical Council (an organisation responsible for licensing doctors and supervising medical ethics in the UK) in late January 2010 that Wakefield and two colleagues were guilty of a range of serious breaches in a ‘fitness to practise’ case. They write that Wakefield acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly” and has been found to have acted with “callous disregard” for the children involved in his study.

Alongside a number of breaches, the researchers were found to have cherry picked data that suited their conclusion. In May 2010, the General Medical Council had Wakefield struck off the medical register.

Wakefield’s original research was based on only 12 children, and although the original paper did not directly claim the combination vaccine caused the disorder, Wakefield suggested at a press conference that parents should consider using single vaccines for each of the diseases.

What was not known at the time was that Wakefield had been receiving payments to find a link between the MMR vaccine and autism from a British legal team hoping to sue the vaccine manufacturers. Wakefield himself had filed for a patent on a single measles vaccine that would benefit if the triple vaccine were discredited. Wakefield knew about test results that contradicted his theory but did not publish them.

Since 1998, there have been many large studies undertaken around the world, which have all failed to find a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

Resurgence of disease

Unfortunately, many medical professionals say the damage has been done. Although the research has been disproven, people are groundlessly suspicious of the MMR vaccine and others. In turn, this has led to a resurgence of disease in the community and, with it, unnecessary illness, permanent complications and even death. Lack of confidence in the vaccine has directly damaged public health.

Measles

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Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus, which can be effectively prevented through immunisation.

Photo by CDC/Dr. Heinz F. Eichenwald

Rights: Public domain

At the time, Dr Helen Petousis-Harris, then Director of Research at the Immunisation Advisory Centre and Senior Lecturer in the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care at the University of Auckland, said she was pleased to see the strong and clear ruling by the UK’s General Medical Council against Wakefield for his unethical practices.

“The groundless controversy that followed his media statements around the MMR vaccine has resulted in many preventable cases of disease both internationally and in New Zealand … There are still many parents who are concerned about the Wakefield claims. We hope that this news will add further reassurance that the MMR vaccine is not associated with autism or any other developmental problems.

Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after; so that when men come to be undeceived it is too late: the jest is over and the tale has had its effect.

Dr David Elliman, Consultant in Community Child Health at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in the UK, says The Lancet’s decision to retract the paper was “very reasonable”.

“To be fair to The Lancet, they did publish a commentary at the time urging caution that wasn’t picked up. I think the reality of the world today is that academic papers on major public health issues do not remain the property of academia. Therefore, it is incumbent on us all in science, in journals, and in the media to be very certain of the strength of a study before rushing to publish, and to be aware of the potential effects.”

Andrew Wakefield

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Andrew Wakefield speaking during anti-vaccine march organised by STOP NOP in Warsaw, 2019.

Rights: Bladość, CC BY-SA 4.0

Today, Andrew Wakefield is an anti-vaccine activist. In 2017, he wrote and co-directed the documentary Vaxxed – it continued to make the false claims from his retracted research. In 2019, a sequel documentary on the issue of vaccines and autism was produced by politician Robert F Kennedy Jr, who continues to support the original research by Wakefield. In 2025, Kennedy Jr was appointed to the position of United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in President Donald Trump’s second cabinet.