An injection of reality in the hysteria over vaccine

WITH tousled brown hair and sporting a check shirt, Dr Andrew Wakefield, 52, cuts an unassuming figure. It is hard to imagine that he almost single-handedly sparked one of the world’s biggest health scares.

Twelve years ago he caused a worldwide panic over the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine when he and colleagues at the Royal Free Hospital in London had a paper published in the medical journal The Lancet. It suggested a link between the vaccine, autism and bowel disorders and, although the study involved just 12 children, it generated huge interest.

During a press conference after publication, Wakefield suggested that giving children the vaccines in three separate doses would be safer than a single vaccination. This suggestion was not supported by the paper but, in the media frenzy that followed, his comments made headline news.