Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998
Lancet MMR autism fraud, characterised as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years".
[1] The fraudulent research paper authored by
Andrew Wakefield and published in
The Lancet claimed to link the vaccine to
colitis and
autism spectrum disorders. The paper was retracted in 2010
[2] but is still cited by anti-vaccinationists.
[3]
An investigation by journalist
Brian Deer found that Wakefield, the author of the original research paper linking the vaccine to autism, had multiple undeclared
conflicts of interest,
[21][22] had manipulated evidence,
[23] and had broken other ethical codes. The
Lancet paper was partially retracted in 2004 and fully retracted in 2010, when
Lancet's editor-in-chief
Richard Horton described it as "utterly false" and said that the journal had been deceived.
[24] Wakefield was found guilty by the General Medical Council of serious professional misconduct in May 2010 and was struck off the Medical Register, meaning he could no longer practise as a physician in the UK.[25] In 2011, Deer provided further information on Wakefield's improper research practices to the
British Medical Journal, which in a signed editorial described the original paper as fraudulent.
[26][27] The
scientific consensus is that there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism and that the vaccine's benefits greatly outweigh its potential risks.