Want to see a doctor blatantly lie to the camera? This is Dr. Andrew Wakefield, father of the modern Antibax movement, talking about his 1988 paper that linked vaccines to autism. In 8 out of 12 children referred to his GI clinic through supposedly normal channels. That was published as a case series in the Lancet in the February of the year. So in the UK there was then litigation by children against the manufacturers of the Trump and I became involved in the study. After the study. And patients with in the Lancet study also became involved. Once they got their diagnosis and they were convinced that this is what happened, then they joined the litigation. implying that the lawsuit came after the paper, that kids were referred to him, with mothers reporting their behavioral changes occurring right after vaccination, then once his paper showed that that link was common, other mothers saw and started suing. So only then did the kids from the study join the lawsuit. Squeaky clean, no conflict of interest. One allegations against me is that I had acted on behalf of lawyers I was being paid by lawyers to do the Lancet Study. In fact, I was being paid for by a government-funded compensation program to act as a medical expert. It had nothing whatsoever to do with a Blancet study, which was paid for by the National Health Service. Nothing to do with it, huh? Just a medical expert. Most medical experts on legal cases show up in court, they testify, and get paid a few thousand dollars. They don't design studies to defraud the taxpayer. Now let's look at what actually happened. And how the money flowed. In 1994, a mother named Jackie Fletcher met a lawyer named Richard Barr. They hit it off and started a class action lawsuit. Paid for by the government's legal aid fund. They were suing MMR vaccine manufacturers. founded an anti-back's organization she called Jabs that started advertising and recruiting other mothers to join the lawsuit. But they needed scientific backing. Enter Andrew Wakefield, who meets Barr in 1995 and they get to talking. In February 1996, Wakefield writes to Barr. I would be happy to act as an expert witness on behalf of your clients for 150 pounds per hour plus expenses. $304 in current value. But he did much more than witness. They worked together to build the whole case. that Barr and Fletcher had recruited to join the lawsuit started referring their children to Wakefield for testing. For the lawsuit. Also used for the 1998 Lancet paper, mothers with money to be won, if they told their stories right. And the money? Barr and Wakefield were awarded 50,000 pounds in 1996 by the legal aid board to fund testing, to investigate possible links between MMR and autism. But in the later court hearing, it came out that Wakefield had double-dipped. The testing was already, as he says, paid for by the National Health Service. because he had claimed that it was medically necessary. It wasn't. More on that later. Over the few years that Wakefield was involved in the lawsuit, he billed over 400,000 pounds, almost 850,000 of today's dollars, paid for by the government. So, I agreed to be a medical expert, and I feel obliged to act as a medical expert on their behalf. So pure. Next up, his crazy patents.
Additional notes
Replying to @Avisha - 🧬Science Made Simple ⚠️ NOTE: If you are someone who wants to debate any part of this, you are allowed to do so in the comments so long as you speak respectfully and cite sources. I first recorded this 7-part series back in 2022, but never ended up finishing editing the landscape-oriented YT video. It’s sad that this has once again become extremely relevant, as certain individuals featuring very prominently in today’s new cycle are some of the most prominent propagators of this myth. They often couch their statements in qualifiers like “oh i’m not ANTI vaccinations, I just think that they all need more testing to show that they don’t cause autism.” But the ENTIRE REASON why those two concepts are even linked has no foundation in legitimate science, so any statements that give the link any level of credence by someone in a clear position to know better should be taken as an IMMEDIATE RED FLAG 🚩 I’ll be uploading this entire series today, and hopefully get the longer YT vid up this week. Much of the original legwork for this series was done by Brian Deer for his book "The Doctor Who Fooled the World,” but I went back and read each of his cited sources, all of the research papers, more from my own research, and even the court proceedings where Wakefield’s medical license was revoked. #vaccines #autism #science #learnontiktok #whofides #edutok
References
- Source named in caption: Brian Deer, The Doctor Who Fooled the World. No direct DOI, PMID, or source URL was listed in the workbook row.
- Source category named in caption: court proceedings where Andrew Wakefield's medical license was revoked. No direct source URL was listed in the workbook row.
- Source named in transcript: Andrew Wakefield et al. 1998 Lancet paper and related litigation/legal aid proceedings; no DOI/source URL was listed in the workbook row.