• Wakefield made statements at a press conference and in a video news release issued by the hospital, calling fo

r suspension of the triple MMR vaccine until more research could be done.
- Interview: Dr Andrew Wakefield, research team leader, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine

• “It was a 'moral issue' and he could no longer support the continued use of the three-in-one jab for measles,
mumps and rubella.
• “Urgent further research is needed to determine whether MMR may give rise to this complication in a small n
umber of people,‘
- Wakefield and autism: the story that will not go away". BBC News

• "If you give three viruses together, three live viruses, then you potentially increase the risk of an adverse event
occurring, particularly when one of those viruses influences the immune system in the way that measles does.
- Interview: Dr Andrew Wakefield, research team leader, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine
• He suggested parents should opt for single vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella, separated by ga
ps of one year.
• Anti-vaccination movement in the U.S., which had been primarily con
cerned about thiomersal in vaccines.
• The medical school said that he had left "by mutual agreement". In Fe
bruary 2002, Wakefield stated, "What precipitated this crisis was the r
emoval of the single vaccine, the removal of choice, and that is what
has caused the furore—because the doctors, the gurus, are treating t
he public as though they are some kind of moronic mass who cannot
make an informed decision for themselves."[52]
• Wakefield continued conducting clinical research in the United States
after leaving the Royal Free Hospital in December 2001.
• Controversial American researcher, Jeff Bradstreet, at the Internationa
l Child Development Resource Center, to conduct further studies on th
e possible relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism.
• Royal Free Hospital had received £55,000 from the UK's Legal Aid Boar
d (now the Legal Services Commission) to pay for the research.
• In December 2006, Deer, writing in the Sunday Times, further reporte
d that in addition to the money they gave the Royal Free Hospital, the
lawyers responsible for the MMR lawsuit had paid Wakefield personal
ly more than £400,000, which he had not previously disclosed.[59]