WAKEFIELD’S CASE SERIES BECAME one of the most influential journal articles in the history of public health—a considerable accomplishment for someone who admits that he knew nothing about autism before he undertook the study. But it would also become one of the most widely and thoroughly refuted. Investigations and inquiries launched in the years following its publication by journalist Brian Deer, the General Medical Council, the British Medical Journal, and other watchdogs uncovered numerous problems with its methodology, ethics, and reporting.
