[pjc50]

He spent years promoting the idea, and achieved a level of misconduct that got him disqualified from practicing medicine. Relevant chunk of Wikipedia:

> After the publication of the paper, other researchers were unable to reproduce Wakefield's findings or confirm his hypothesis of an association between the MMR vaccine and autism,[8] or autism and gastrointestinal disease.[9] A 2004 investigation by Sunday Times reporter Brian Deer identified undisclosed financial conflicts of interest on Wakefield's part,[10] and most of his co-authors then withdrew their support for the study's interpretations.[11] The British General Medical Council (GMC) conducted an inquiry into allegations of misconduct against Wakefield and two former colleagues.[12] The investigation centred on Deer's findings, including that children with autism were subjected to unnecessary invasive medical procedures such as colonoscopies and lumbar punctures,[13] and that Wakefield acted without the required ethical approval from an institutional review board.

> On 28 January 2010, a five-member statutory tribunal of the GMC found three dozen charges proved, including four counts of dishonesty and twelve counts involving the abuse of developmentally delayed children.[14] The panel ruled that Wakefield had "failed in his duties as a responsible consultant", acted against the interests of his patients, and acted "dishonestly and irresponsibly" in his published research.[15][16][17] The Lancet fully retracted the 1998 publication on the basis of the GMC's findings, noting that elements of the manuscript had been falsified.[18] The Lancet's editor-in-chief Richard Horton said the paper was "utterly false" and that the journal had been "deceived".[19] Three months following The Lancet's retraction, Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register, with a statement identifying deliberate falsification in the research published in The Lancet,[20] and was thereby barred from practising medicine in the UK.[21] A British Administrative Court Justice noted in a related decision—"There is now no respectable body of opinion which supports (Dr. Wakefield's) hypothesis, that MMR vaccine and autism/enterocolitis are causally linked".[22]

[starvingbear]

Fair enough. His conduct afterward could be looked at (though going beyond wikipedia may be necessary). But the original hysteria definitely painted a huge target on his back with a lot of misinformation. I don't think that's deniable