In 1998, a paper appeared in the respected medical journal The Lancet that sent shock waves through the public health world. The paper suggested a link between the MMR vaccine — measles, mumps and rubella — and autism. Parents were alarmed, vaccination rates dropped and outbreaks of measles surged.
But there was one major problem: The paper was wrong.
The study, led by British physician Andrew Wakefield, examined just 12 children. That’s not a typo — 12. That’s fewer kids than you might find in a single preschool classroom. Worse, the children weren’t randomly chosen. All of their parents already believed the MMR vaccine had harmed their children. This alone makes the results unreliable, as it introduces bias into the data. In science, you must start with an open question, not a conclusion.
But the problems didn’t stop there. Wakefield failed to disclose that he was being paid by lawyers preparing a lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers. In other words, he had a financial interest in proving that the vaccine was harmful. That’s like hiring a referee who’s already been paid to favor one team — it ruins the integrity of the game.
Furthermore, other researchers could not replicate the results. In science, reproducibility is a cornerstone. If a study is valid, others should be able to run similar experiments and get the same results. No one could.
As researchers dug deeper, they found serious issues with the way the study had been conducted and reported. Medical records didn’t match what was published. Some children had signs of developmental problems before they received the vaccine. Others were misdiagnosed altogether.
By 2010, the British General Medical Council had seen enough. They found Wakefield guilty of serious professional misconduct. The Lancet fully retracted the paper that same year, stating that the claims made in the article were “utterly false.” In 2011, Wakefield lost his medical license. The scientific community had spoken: The study was not just flawed — it was fraudulent.
Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. The myth that the MMR vaccine causes autism continues to spread online, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Large-scale studies involving hundreds of thousands of children across many countries have found no link between any vaccine and autism.
So what causes autism? Scientists don’t have a full answer yet, but research points to a mix of genetic and early developmental factors. What is certain is that vaccines are not to blame.
The MMR vaccine is one of the great triumphs of modern medicine. It has saved millions of lives by preventing deadly diseases. When vaccination rates fall, those diseases come roaring back.
This episode is a cautionary tale about how misinformation — even from a single flawed study — can echo for decades. It reminds us to be skeptical, ask questions and demand solid evidence. The truth eventually wins out in science, but it sometimes takes time.
Meanwhile, measles waits for the next opportunity to return. Vaccines remain one of our best defenses. Let’s not let discredited science undermine real progress.
Richard Brill is a retired professor of science at Honolulu Community College. His column runs on the first and third Fridays of the month. Email questions and comments to brill@hawaii.edu.
