Measles made worse by vaccine, claims disgraced British doctor

A DISGRACED British former doctor who became the face of the anti-vaccine movement has claimed vaccines have made measles “a more dangerous disease”, as he fundraises for a second film targeting the HPV vaccine.

Andrew Wakefield made a rare public appearance in Chicago on Sunday during which he claimed the US faced a crisis because vaccinations have created a mutant strain of the virus.

He claimed “the measles vaccine is itself causing measles and ... is not producing immunity that protects either against natural measles or the vaccineinduced measles”.

Mr Wakefield co-authored a 1998 paper suggesting a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism. An investigation found that it relied on bogus data although Mr Wakefield repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and declined to retract the paper’s findings.

The inquiry uncovered financial and ethical conflicts of interest which led to him being struck off the British medical register in 2010. He later relocated to America, where he has continued to promote his views.

The Telegraph can reveal Mr Wakefield is fundraising for a follow-up to his 2016 film Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe, which was removed from streaming sites such as Amazon Prime Video earlier this year after an outcry from US lawmakers.

Mr Wakefield was promoting the new film, Vaxxed II, during his appearance on Sunday. Asked by an audience member what America could do to protect itself against the resurgence of measles, he replied: “Help me make a film.”

During his 45-minute talk at the Autism One Conference, Mr Wakefield claimed America’s intelligence agency was influencing government health policy on vaccinations for use as a “political weapon”.

Mr Wakefield’s comments come as the US faces its worst measles crisis in 25 years – despite the fact the disease was declared eradicated in 2000. There have been 940 recorded cases of the highly contagious disease this year.

‘The measles vaccine is itself causing measles and ... is not producing the immunity against natural measles’

One of the most serious outbreaks has been in New York City, where 535 cases have reported since Sept. Mr Wakefield claimed “the person who caused this had multiple vaccines”.

The US health protection agency has said the cases occurred primarily among people who had not received vaccines.

Last week, it was reported that Mr Wakefield had spoken to New York’s Orthodox Jewish community, which was at the centre of the outbreak, at a “vaccine symposium” in Rockland County.

A string of studies over the past nine years have found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.