The Lancet retracted Wakefield's study in 2010 and, later that year, the General Medical Council found him guilty of serious professional misconduct over the way he carried out his research, and he was struck off the medical register.
As New Zealand's own Ministry of Health says, strict procedures are followed when vaccines are made, and the manufacturer has to demonstrate evidence that it is safe before it can be approved here. Testing takes years and includes trials of human volunteers.
After all this evidence, there are still people out there who believe in Wakefield's claims and refuse to vaccinate themselves and their children.
These people distrust their GPs when they're told vaccines are safe, but most will still take their child to the doctor with a broken bone or a bad rash.
It angers me that children and adults are being left vulnerable to serious, even deadly, diseases because of these myths.
