The origin of the vaccine-autism myth
Expert
Dr Andrea Love: Immunologist & Microbiologist. Subject-matter expert in infectious disease immunology, cancer immunology, and autoimmunity. Executive Director of the American Lyme Disease Foundation.
Claim
The MMR vaccine causes autism.
Reality
This myth started in 1998 because British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, who has since lost his medical license and the ability to practice medicine, published a paper in The Lancet claiming he had data to demonstrate a link between the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine and autism symptoms in children.
He falsified all of the data while using self reports from parents who were planning to sue the existing manufacturers of the MMR vaccine. He also tried to sell and market his own MMR vaccine. The paper was retracted in 2010.
In recent years, we're seeing measles rates above what we have ever seen in the US, and it is really a cause for concern because the very first measles vaccine was put on the market in 1963. We have over 60 years of data that demonstrate that there is no relationship between vaccines and autism.
Resources
How the media helped fuel the anti-vax movement — Derek Beres, Big Think
How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed
The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Science, Deception, and the War on Vaccines — Brian Deer
The MMR vaccine and autism: Sensation, refutation, retraction, and fraud
