It probably wouldn't surprise you if I told you that someone lied to make money. But today I would like to talk about a lie that changed the world we live in. It is a story of a doctor, who claimed that the MMR vaccine causes autism. He published a study detailing 12 children who allegedly developed autism after receiving the MMR vaccine. However, it was later revealed that the results were falsified, and the doctor in question was likely trying to fabricate evidence for a planned lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies. So, lets talk about the study in question and also about the subsequent research that was done to either confirm or refute this alarming claim, and in which there wasn't observed link between autism and MMR.

*

If you enjoyed this episode and want to stay updated on more virology stories, please follow @virology_podcast or @karolina_science on Instagram :). The podcast is also available in Czech as Podcast o virech.

*

Sources:

B. Deer, 2011: How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed; 2020: The Doctor Who Fooled the World • F. DeStefano, 2019: The MMR Vaccine and Autism • S.E. Coffin, 2002: MMR and autism: moving from controversy toward consensus • N.S. Ashmani, 2022: Early Prediction and Evaluation of Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders • F. Rafiee, 2022: Brain MRI in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Narrative Review and Recent Advances • M.L.B. Novilla, 2023: Why Parents Say No to Having Their Children Vaccinated against Measles • A. Jain, 2015: Autism occurrence by MMR vaccine status among US children with older siblings with and without autism • A. Hviid, 2019: Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccination and Autism: A Nationwide Cohort Study • WHO measles, mumps, rubella fact sheets (online, accessed 24/02/2024)