A recent article by journalist Brian Deer found that details in the cases of 12 children reported in the original study were either misrepresented or altered the actual experiences of the children.

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Secrets of the MMR scare: how the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed

In the first part of a special BMJ series, Brian Deer exposes the data behind claims that launched a worldwide scare over the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, and reveals how the appearance of a link with autism was manufactured at a London medical school. In an accompanying editorial, Fiona Godlee and colleagues say that Andrew Wakefield’s (pictured) article linking MMR vaccine and autism was based not on bad science but on a deliberate fraud. In a linked blog, Brian Deer analyses the similarities between the MMR scare and the case of “Piltdown Man.”

Dr. Andrew Wakefield the author of the original study published in The Lancet in 1998 claims the study is valid and that it has been repeated in five countries around the world.