Article that sparked MMR jab fears is retracted

Published on Tuesday 2 February 2010 21:34

AN EMINENT medical journal that published a controversial research paper sparking concerns over a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism retracted the article from the public record today.

The Lancet said that following the judgment of the General Medical Council (GMC) fitness to practice panel last Thursday it had become clear that several elements of the 1998 paper by Dr Andrew Wakefield and others were incorrect. The panel made a number of criticisms of Dr Wakefield, including that he was misleading and irresponsible in the way he described the study.

The research sparked a massive drop in the number of children given the triple jab for measles, mumps and rubella.

In a statement, the editors of The Lancet said it had become clear that several elements of the paper were incorrect, contrary to the findings of an earlier investigation.

"In particular, the claims in the original paper that children were 'consecutively referred' and that investigations were 'approved' by the local ethics committee have been proven to be false. Therefore we fully retract this paper from the published record."