The Lancet has retracted the 1998 paper that caused so many parents to shun the MMR vaccine.

The Lancet said following the judgment of the General Medical Council (GMC) fitness to practise panel last Thursday it had become clear that several elements of the 1998 paper by Dr Andrew Wakefield and others were incorrect.

The original paper led many parents in the UK to "refuse the MMR vaccine for their children and sparked a surge in infections and health problems" according to the Financial Times.

However, Dr Wakefield’s subsequent calls for separate vaccines for the different infections – including an experimental product under development by a company in which he had an interest – came under sharp scrutiny as MMR vaccination rates fell sharply in some parts of the UK, and infections rose.

 I was in the UK at the time of the scare - and some of the media deliberately ignored the real science to put fear and doubt into parents minds. So many lives were put at risk, and all because of bad science.