"Wakefield set off a public health time bomb in 1998 with a paper published in The Lancet that claimed the joint MMR vaccine might be the cause of rising numbers of autism cases. He offered no causal mechanism but called for use of the triple vaccine to be suspended until further research could be done. However, other scientists were never able to replicate the results. Subsequent investigations found a string of failings, which led the General Medical Council to conclude that Wakefield had acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly".
That was not enough to prevent thousands of parents avoiding the MMR vaccine, sparking a rise in case of measles and mumps.
David Robert Grimes, a University of Oxford scientist who has long opposed Mr Wakefield, said that he was no more deserving of public attention than a far-right idealogue.
"Wakefield is a long-debunked fear merchant whose attempt to paint himself as a Galileo-like figure is at once completely narcissistic and utterly dishonest," he said.
"Whether by oversight or intention, giving Mr Wakefield a platform on vaccines is a grievous mistake, given that we're still reeling from the damage his falsehoods inflicted on public health.
"Not only are his claims devoid of evidence, they are vividly disproven by the overwhelming scientific data to date.
"When the evidence points in only one direction there is no debate, yet by hosting someone so notorious [the university] gives the perception his assertions might have merit. They do not."
