Dr Anti-Vax podcast spotlights a spreader of misinformation — review
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Twenty-five years ago, in advance of a paper being published in the medical journal The Lancet, a panel of researchers including gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield gave a press conference at London’s Royal Free Hospital at which they raised the possibility that the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine was linked to autism. Wakefield’s advice was that parents should give children the three vaccines separately. Stories soon began appearing in the press featuring parents who claimed their children had been damaged by the MMR jab. Vaccination rates started to drop and measles cases rose. For Wakefield, it was the start of a new phase in his career as a prominent figure in the anti-vax movement.
In Dr Anti-Vax, a three-part podcast from Tortoise Media, the journalist Alexi Mostrous tells of the rise of Wakefield and his role in a broader movement against vaccines which, amplified by social media and politicians trying to foster anti-establishment credentials, reached fever pitch during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2010, a full 12 years after that first press conference, Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register by the General Medical Council which found he had acted dishonestly; that same year, The Lancet retracted his paper. By this time, Wakefield was living in Texas and making a living on the speaking circuit through which he attracted an ever more devoted following. “He was treated like the biggest rock star there is,” says a former employee.
Many listeners will know Mostrous from Sweet Bobby, the hit true-crime series about catfishing, and he brings the same rigour and storytelling flair to this story of a man who made a career from stoking a culture war over one of the most life-saving inventions of the modern era. There’s a flavour of Jon Ronson’s podcast Things Fell Apart in the way Mostrous chases down the origin story of a divisive topic and seeks to understand the battles that have shaped today’s fractious discourse.
Also like Ronson, who has long made a point of trying to understand his subjects rather than pass judgment, Mostrous takes an empathetic approach towards Wakefield’s supporters, particularly the parents of autistic children, many of whom were desperate for an explanation about their child’s condition. He is less sympathetic, though certainly curious, about Wakefield, who thrives on criticism; the more his reputation takes a beating, the more he casts himself as a victim of a conspiracy between the media, big pharma and the medical establishment.
A chill runs down the spine as Mostrous reveals how Wakefield, once a fringe figure, not only won over celebrities including Jim Carrey, Robert De Niro and Elle Macpherson (whom he briefly dated) regarding concerns about vaccinations, but found a fan in former US president Donald Trump, who invited him to one of his inauguration balls. Not for nothing does Mostrous tell us at the start: “If the anti-vax movement is burning out of control, this guy is the original fire-starter.”
This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Financial Times can be found here.
