In 1998, gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield and 12 of his colleagues published a case study in one of the most highly respected medical journals, the UK’s Lancet. This paper suggested that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine may predispose children to behavioural regression and pervasive developmental disorder (i.e. autism). Despite the small sample size of only 12 individuals, the lack of controls, and the speculative nature of the conclusions, the paper received wide publicity, and MMR vaccination rates began to drop because parents were concerned about the risk of autism after vaccination1.
Almost immediately afterward, proper epidemiological studies were conducted and published, refuting the link between MMR vaccination and autism. The logic that the MMR vaccine could trigger autism was also questioned because a temporal link between the two is almost predestined: both events, by design (MMR vaccination) or diagnosis (autism), occur in early childhood1.
The next episode in the saga was a short retraction of the interpretation of the original data by 10 of the 12 co-authors of the paper. According to the retraction, “no causal link was established between MMR vaccine and autism as the data were insufficient”. This was accompanied by an admission by the Lancet that the Wakefield et al. paper had failed to disclose financial interests (e.g., Wakefield had been funded by lawyers engaged by parents in lawsuits against vaccine-producing companies). However, the Lancet exonerated Wakefield and his colleagues from charges of ethical violations and scientific misconduct1.
The final episode in the saga is the revelation that Wakefield et al. were guilty of deliberate fraud (they chose data that suited their case and falsified facts). The British Medical Journal has published a series of articles on the exposure of the fraud, which appears to have taken place for financial gain. It is concerning that the exposé was a result of a journalistic investigation, rather than academic vigilance followed by the institution of corrective measures1.
After this fraud was uncovered, Wakefield lost his UK job and was struck off the medical register. He disappeared to the US and it was assumed he had gone to ground, having lost all credibility. He was a spent force, even though his name was often in the air as the anti-MMR views he seeded around the world led to many parents shunning the vaccine and outbreaks of measles wherever anyone had heard Wakefield’s creed. It was known he was in Texas with those who shared his views on vaccines and conspiracy. But he was not a public figure. That was until Donald Trump was elected for his first term as US president2.
At one of President Trump’s inaugural balls in January 2017, he was quoted as contemplating the overthrow of the (pro-vaccine) US medical establishment in words that brought to mind Trump himself. “What we need now is a huge shakeup at the Centers [sic] for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – a huge shakeup. We need that to change dramatically”.2
That same month, ‘vaccine sceptic’ Robert F Kennedy Jnr announced that he would be heading up a new federal panel on vaccine safety convened by Trump. It didn’t happen, but the possibility sent shivers through the medical world2.
After Wakefield’s fraudulent paper fuelled anti-vaccination sentiment around the world, there were outbreaks of measles in numerous parts of the world including the US and Europe, especially in Romania, Italy and Ukraine.2
Now the deeply stupid Robert F. Kennedy Jr has again appeared on the scene. During his confirmation hearings for his installation as Health and Human Services secretary, Kennedy sidestepped calls for him to declare unequivocally that vaccines do not cause autism, and appeared to convince lawmakers that he’d let Americans make their own decisions about vaccines. “I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking either of those vaccines,” Kennedy told senators3.
Cases of the incredibly contagious measles virus are continuing to rise in Texas and across the US as Kennedy promotes treatments not supported by health experts. To date this year, the US has recorded more than 250 measles cases across several states, including Oklahoma, Alaska, California, Georgia, Florida, New York, Kentucky and Rhode Island. The epicentre of this outbreak remains in western Texas and neighbouring New Mexico, where two unvaccinated people have died from the virus, including one child. Kennedy has so far offered mixed messages about the outbreaks. At first, he suggested the rising cases were “not unusual” for the US, before backtracking and calling the situation “serious”. Then, in an interview with Murdoch’s Faux News, Kennedy suggested cod liver oil and other alternative measles treatments had proven “miraculous”. All this has occurred after the year 2000, when the US had declared measles eliminated4.
This week, the Children’s Health Defense [sic], the anti-vaccine organisation that Kennedy founded, updated and again promoted a 2021 book in which Kennedy called measles vaccines “risky”. He said: “Measles outbreaks have been fabricated to create fear that in turn forces government officials to ‘do something,'” and added that benefits of the vaccine had been “exaggerated”.4
Kennedy, like Wakefield, is a fraud. His lies will kill children, not only those who contract measles and die from the infection itself, but those who come down with Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE), an incurable brain-wasting disease not unlike dementia which, if not caught in its early stages, is invariably fatal. SSPE can strike a person up to 15 years after measles infection5.
It must be difficult for Kennedy, having an uncle and a father who were largely respected for their performance in high office, while you have spent much of your life as a useless, conspiracy-theorist pillock. Furthermore, he will be the cause of many deaths of children because of his anti-science stupidity. He needs to be held to account.
Sources
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3136032/
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/18/how-disgraced-anti-vaxxer-andrew-wakefield-was-embraced-by-trumps-america
- https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/03/rfk-jr-quiet-assault-vaccination/682040/
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cedlwxlp01zo
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK560673/
