Although Great Britain revoked his medical license, Dr. Wakefield remains defiant and says he will continue researching autism. Appearing on NBC’s Today show, Dr. Wakefield stands behind his work and asserts again that he firmly believes that autism is caused by vaccines.
The accusations
Dr. Wakefield conducted a study in 1998. He proposed to prove that autism was caused by the MMR Vaccine. His study consisted of 12 children. The problem is that many scientists tried to duplicate his study, but their findings were not the same as Dr. Wakefield. The Today interview points out that it was Brian Deer, a British reporter who broke the original story about the faulty study. Deer learned that Dr. Wakefield was a salaried, expert witness against a drug manufacturer during a class action lawsuit; two years prior to his launching the autism study. Failing to disclose this fact leads one to suspect Dr. Wakefield’s actions. Deer also learned that Dr. Wakefield had invited those same children to his son’s birthday party. Wakefield paid those children for donating blood.
During the Matt Lauer interview, Dr. Wakefield admits that he expected to lose his medical license because of pressure put upon the British government. He accused the U.S. government of quietly paying off families rather than admit that vaccines cause autism.
The last of Dr. Wakefield
No, Dr. Wakefield says that we will see him because new children are diagnosed everyday and parents need him.
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