MAN WHO SPARKED GLOBAL SCARE
ANDREW Wakefield is a former NHS consultant who was disbarred on ethical grounds after linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism.
He was a well-respected gastroenterologist working at London’s Royal Free Hospital when he called for the suspension of the triple jab.
His highly contentious study – published in The Lancet in 1998 – triggered an international medical scare as thousands of parents took heed of his advice.
Vaccination rates plummeted, sparking concerns children would be vulnerable to mumps, measles and rubella. The controversy escalated in 2001 when then Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to say whether his son Leo had received the jab.
In four years, the UK vaccination rate fell from 90 per cent to 84 per cent. In some parts of the country, it dropped to as low as 61 per cent.
Mr Wakefield was finally banned from practising medicine in the UK in 2010 after the General Medical Council ruled he had ‘abused his position of trust’ and ‘brought the medical profession into disrepute’.
At the GMC hearing, he was accused of being paid to conduct his study by lawyers representing parents who thought their children had been affected by MMR vaccinations. He was also accused of buying blood samples from children at his son’s birthday party, paying them each £5.
Furious with the British medical establishment, Mr Wakefield moved to America where he leads a lucrative movement campaigning against childhood inoculations.