Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode The lasting damage of vaccine misinformation and the disgraced doctor fueling it
Oct 7, 2025
In this engaging discussion, investigative journalist Brian Deer, known for exposing Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent claims linking vaccines to autism, sheds light on the troubling persistence of vaccine misinformation. He recounts the red flags that led him to investigate Wakefield’s deceptive study and reveals how legal and financial motives fueled the anti-vaccine movement. Brian also critiques the ongoing influence of figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and explores how charisma can propagate dangerous myths, emphasizing the urgent need for transparency in medical reporting.
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How The 12-Child Case Was Orchestrated
- Brian Deer recounts finding Wakefield's 'sentinel case' mother and spotting inconsistencies in her story that suggested orchestration.
- He traced referrals and legal funding that showed the 12-child case series was recruited to support a lawsuit, not independent research.
Selection And Data Manipulation Produced The Fraud
- Deer shows Wakefield preselected patients and then altered diagnoses and histories to create a false pattern linking MMR to autism.
- The combination of selection bias and data manipulation produced a persuasive but fraudulent narrative.
University Offered Replication — He Walked Away
- University College London offered Wakefield support to run a larger replication study, but he equivocated and refused to follow through.
- The university eventually forced him out and paid him to leave, ending his academic career.
