Vaccines and Autism (The Wakefield Study)

A single doctor's study claiming vaccines cause autism was retracted, his medical license was revoked for fraud, and it's been directly contradicted by dozens of large studies since — yet the claim still shapes public health debates today.

In 1998, British physician Andrew Wakefield published a study in The Lancet claiming a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The study was later found to involve falsified data and undisclosed financial conflicts of interest, was formally retracted, and Wakefield lost his medical license. Dozens of large-scale subsequent studies have found no link between vaccines and autism.

✕debunked

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Quick facts

→Wakefield's original 1998 study examined just 12 children — far too small a sample to draw the sweeping conclusions it claimed.
→Investigative journalist Brian Deer's reporting uncovered that Wakefield had received undisclosed payments from lawyers seeking evidence against vaccine manufacturers.
→The Lancet formally retracted the study in 2010, and Britain's General Medical Council revoked Wakefield's medical license the same year, citing serious ethical violations.
→Numerous large-scale studies since, some covering millions of children, have found no link between vaccines and autism.

Entities on file

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Andrew Wakefield (person)

Physician whose 1998 study falsely linking vaccines to autism was later retracted for data fraud and undisclosed financial conflicts; his medical license was revoked.

No outgoing connections on file.

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Brian Deer (person)

Investigative journalist whose reporting exposed the data manipulation and financial conflicts behind Wakefield's study.

→ exposed the fraud of → Andrew Wakefield✓documented

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