Finally finished @deerbrian‘s book on Andrew Wakefield. Not easy finding time to read a book this year as a science journalist, but this one was a must: The inside story of uncovering one of the biggest scientific frauds of the 20th century (a friend calls it ‚journalism porn‘). 
I thought I already knew most of the story behind the MMR scare, Wakefield‘s infamous, retracted Lancet paper and his anti-vax crusade. But - as usual - it turns out that the complexities and texture of real life are way more surprising and satisfying in full technicolor detail.
The book does a great job explaining all the things that were wrong with Wakefield’s work but also some aspects that I had never really understood incl. for instance Wakefield’s re-emergence as a “filmmaker”.
There is also a passage that beautifully highlights the selection bias underlying much of the attention labished on this whole area, a kind of feedback loop of fraudulent research and frightened parents.
Worried parents get the idea from Wakefield that their kids’ symptoms may be linked to vaccines. They go to see his movie, where at the end people are asked to stand up if they have a “vaccine-injured family member” and impressive numbers get up “proving” how common this must be.
“𝘏𝘦 said 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 said; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 said 𝘩𝘦 said. Together, they agreed: 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦. Behold, a cauldron of self-verification. And so it went on.”
It’s a document of one of the great pieces of investigative reporting and large parts are just a thrilling read.
At times there are hints of hard-boiled PI fiction: You may not always like the narrator, but ultimately you root for him as much as he stubbornly roots for the truth.
At times there are hints of hard-boiled PI fiction: You may not always like the narrator, but ultimately you root for him as much as he stubbornly roots for the truth.
Curious to hear what other people thought so if/when you have read it, feel free to leave replies...
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