The MMR Vaccine and Autism

During the process of writing BLISS ROAD, a memoir about my undiagnosed autistic dad, I went on a mountain biking trip about two hours from my house. To get there, I carpooled with three other men. I’m not sure how the topic arose, but one of the men said he didn’t believe in vaccines. And then he said the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine causes autism.

And I said…nothing.

Not because I agreed with him, but because I was shocked he held that point of view after the idea had so roundly been debunked by scientists and medical organizations around the world. Yet as he went on and on with various studies and theories, I had no facts to offer.

So I went home to do research, and am glad I did, because I learned what I hadn’t before and would later write about in BLISS ROAD

The diagnosis of Asperger syndrome, then termed “high-functioning autism,” came about in 1993 (the diagnosis has since been subsumed under the general heading of Autism Spectrum Disorder).That’s when school districts began screening for the neurological disorder. Not surprisingly, the number of diagnoses shot up over the next four years, which was when my then three-year-old nephew was diagnosed. A few years later, his younger brother was diagnosed Pervasive Developmental Disorder, a different strain of autism.

At the time, an increasing number of parents like my sister and brother-in-law felt heartbroken and overwhelmed when told their children had a challenge for which there was little parental guidance.

Then along came Andrew Wakefield, an English gastroenterologist. In 1998, he authored a study published in The Lancet medical journal. The results purportedly showed a connection between the measles, mumps and rubeola (MMR) vaccine and autism.

Experts around the world quickly jumped on the study to see if his conclusion could be true. Instead, they found the study flawed for the following reasons: a small sample size of only 12 people; the use of an uncontrolled design; and the speculative nature of the conclusions. The journal retracted the study with an admission that no causal link was found between the MMR vaccine and autism.

But the damage had been done. Millions of distressed parents latched onto the opportunity to blame their child’s autism on an outside factor, rather than accept the more mundane, dissatisfying fact that 80% of autism is hereditary.

The falsehood that MMR causes autism helped fuel today’s prevalent anti-vaccination sentiment, and sad increase in measles cases, to over 600, in the US, despite discoveries about the craven nature of Wakefield’s deception.

According to The Indian Journal of Psychiatry (Issue 53, April-June 2011), The Lancet later wrote a further admission, albeit not well advertised, “that Wakefield et al. had failed to disclose financial interests (e.g., Wakefield had been funded by lawyers who had been engaged by parents in lawsuits against vaccine-producing companies).”

The paper goes on to say:

“The final episode in the saga is the revelation that Wakefield et al. were guilty of deliberate fraud (they picked and chose data that suited their case; they 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.”

Specifically, Wakefield knew the best way to make a lot of money in the medical field was to create a vaccine. He originally chose autistic children from among his patients and tried to link their diagnosis to their gastrointestinal problems, but the public didn’t bite. He tried again by selecting autistic kids who’d had the MMR vaccine. That study made the headlines.

I often think back to the day of carpooling with that man. If I had the research at my fingertips, this is what I would have said:

“You are not correct and perpetuating an untruth may keep children from getting a safe and effective vaccine.”

The fact I'd have to say that to our current Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has often spoken the same untruth, pains me greatly. (The history behind an enduring public health falsehood — that vaccines cause autism, March 5, 2025)

I encourage everyone to read the following March 20, 2025, New York Times opinion piece by guest essayist Holden Thorp, who respectfully addresses the topic and provides accurate information: I was diagnosed with autism at 53. I know why rates are rising.

And for more information about Andrew Wakefield and the extent of his fraud, consider reading THE DOCTOR WHO FOOLED THE WORLD by investigative journalist Brian Deer.

And if you’ve found yourself hesitant about vaccines, here’s another book recommendation by medical experts: VACCINES AND YOUR FAMILY: Separating Fact from Fiction, co-authored by Charlotte A. Moser, MS, and published in 2024 by Columbia University Press.