MMR Scandal – Impact on Vaccination Rates

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Twenty years ago one of the most serious public health scandals of the 20th century emerged – when the British doctor Andrew Wakefield published a paper in the medical journal, The Lancet. It suggested there was a link between MMR - the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine - and autism. His work would be later completely discredited as “an elaborate fraud” and retracted. Wakefield himself was struck off the medical register in the UK. But the ripples surrounding his claims are still being felt all over the world – as anti-vaccine movements continue to drive down inoculation rates, particularly in developed countries. The result has been outbreaks of measles in Europe and the United states – where it was once almost eradicated. The scandal also played a key role in undermining trust in science. Polio is on the brink of extinction – but a fake vaccination campaign set up to enable the assassination of Osama bin Laden undermined these efforts and trust in key communities, as Adam Rutherford explains in this special edition of Health Check. (Photo credit: Science Photo Library)