Wakefield uses virus to push his claims in US

Former doctor behind discredited MMR study uses lockdown unrest to stoke fears over virus cure

Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced British former doctor, is using the coronavirus pandemic to promote his claims that vaccines are unsafe, as he calls for widespread protests against their use in America. Mr Wakefield, who was struck off the British medical register over a discredited study that suggested a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism, has been appearing with other vaccine sceptics to argue the Covid-19 crisis has been exaggerated to push vaccinations.

Rozina Sabur

ANDREW WAKEFIELD, the disgraced British former doctor, is using the coronavirus pandemic to promote his claims that vaccines are unsafe, as he calls for widespread protests against their use in the United States.

Since being struck off the British medical register over a discredited study that suggested a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism, Mr Wakefield has become a prominent figure within America’s anti-vaccine movement.

Now, with the outbreak of Covid-19 in the US, he has been appearing alongside other prominent vaccine sceptics who promote unfounded theories that call into doubt the severity of the virus and suggest its dangers have been exaggerated in order to force the public to receive mandatory vaccinations.

In one recent appearance, Mr Wakefield called on his followers to protest “in numbers that are sufficient to terrify the politicians into doing the right thing”. He went on to warn of a scenario in which vaccines will cause “one in two children” to have autism by 2032. “Vaccines are going to kill us,” he said. “People need to wake up to that”.

The comments were made during a TV series entitled The Truth About Vaccines, in which Mr Wakefield is identified as a gastroenterologist and a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. The Royal College of Surgeons confirmed to The Telegraph that Mr Wakefield has not been a member of the body since 1996.

There is no evidence that vaccines are unsafe, and most health officials agree that safe and effective treatment is the only long-term route out of the current pandemic.

However, Mr Wakefield and his peers have found a newly receptive audience among Americans who are frustrated by the restrictions introduced by states to halt the spread of Covid-19. In recent weeks, thousands of protesters across the US have defied lockdown, arguing it constitutes government overreach.

They have been joined by anti-vaccine activists who argue the lockdowns are evidence of the kind of government intervention into individuals’ healthcare that they have warned against.

“The anti-vax movement has aligned itself very nicely with that open-up movement which is all anti-government, pro-autonomy,” said Dr Litjen Tan from the Immunisation Action Coalition. “I think [Wakefield] is galvanising that to stoke fear,” he said.

Vaccine proponents are also warning that fears about the jabs are being promoted at a time when immunisation rates are already falling because most people are avoiding non-essential medical appointments.

One activist, Ethan Lindenberger, a teenager who made headlines last year when he got himself vaccinated in defiance of his mother’s wishes, said he had noticed an increase in vaccine-related misinformation and conspiracy theories in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. He said the misinformation ranged from claims that face masks posed serious health risks to theories that Covid-19 was linked to 5G towers.

“There has been a really large rise in impatience and anger towards the medical community,” he said. “That lends itself into a larger distrust towards the government and that’s what the anti-vaccine community feeds on.”

“You’ve seen the anti-vaccine community targeting that by saying, ‘you don’t want to be stuck at home, you don’t want the government to tell you what to do. They shut down the economy, lost your job and once they have a vaccine they’re going to pump it into your kids.’ That ideology rings true to a lot of people in a very dangerous way.”

‘His movement has aligned itself very nicely with the open-up movement, which is all anti-government”