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Module 7: Fact or Fallacy?
Quick questions on Wakefield's MMR vaccine claim: HSC Investigating Science Module 7
15short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is the original claim?Show answer
Title. "Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children."
What is why the paper was a problem?Show answer
Peer review failure. The Lancet's peer reviewers did not detect the conflicts (which were undisclosed) or the cherry-picking. Peer review is imperfect: it relies on disclosure and on reviewers seeing the manuscript content, not financial records.
What is the unravelling?Show answer
2004. Journalist Brian Deer of the Sunday Times began investigating, finding the legal payments and the patent.
What is the replication evidence?Show answer
After 1998, multiple large independent studies tested the MMR-autism hypothesis.
What is consequences for public health?Show answer
UK. MMR coverage fell from 92 per cent in 1996 to 80 per cent by 2003 in some areas. Measles, declared eliminated in the UK in 2017, lost elimination status in 2018 amid recurring outbreaks. 1,348 confirmed measles cases in 2008 was the highest since 1994.
What is why journalists matter?Show answer
Brian Deer's investigation is now studied as a case of how investigative journalism can be essential to scientific self-correction. Peer review and replication alone may not detect deliberate fraud. Independent journalism, with access to documents and witnesses, found the financial conflicts and the data discrepancies.
What is title?Show answer
"Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children."
What is author?Show answer
Andrew Wakefield, a gastroenterologist at the Royal Free Hospital, London, plus 12 co-authors.
What is publication?Show answer
The Lancet, 28 February 1998.
What is method?Show answer
A case series of 12 children with developmental delay (including autism) and bowel symptoms. Wakefield reported a possible connection between MMR vaccination, bowel inflammation and developmental regression.
What is the claim?Show answer
The paper did not explicitly claim MMR causes autism, but Wakefield aggressively promoted this interpretation at a press conference. He recommended single-virus vaccines (measles, mumps and rubella separately) rather than the combined MMR.
What is peer review failure?Show answer
The Lancet's peer reviewers did not detect the conflicts (which were undisclosed) or the cherry-picking. Peer review is imperfect: it relies on disclosure and on reviewers seeing the manuscript content, not financial records.
What is 2004?Show answer
Journalist Brian Deer of the Sunday Times began investigating, finding the legal payments and the patent.
What is 2007 to 2010?Show answer
UK General Medical Council fitness-to-practise hearings examined Wakefield's conduct. The longest investigation in GMC history.
What is 2010 February?Show answer
The Lancet formally retracted the 1998 paper.