Vaccines- Fact Check it‪!‬ Verified by Metafact

Hello everyone,
Each month Metafact members vote on a topic for us to investigate with the world’s top experts. We call these Metafact Reviews - and they are science-powered guides giving you the state of knowledge today.
Our launch review last month was on Vaccines - a topic plagued with internet misinformation and weaponized by technology companies. Today we have opened up our findings for everyone to read and share. From questions on supposed toxic ingredients to autism, herd immunity and the HPV vaccine - we want everyone to learn from what we’ve found with over 50 of the world’s top immunologists and public health experts.
To help our members and supporters, I have started recording an audio version of each review for those who prefer it, or want to listen while traveling, ironing or in the shower… If you don’t want to miss a recording, you can subscribe to the Fact Check it! podcast on Spotify, Anchor or Google.
Let me know what you think in the comments below and by all means share this to friends, family members and colleagues interested in signing up to the Verified newsletter:

Enjoy our vaccines review and always remember…
May the facts be with you!
Ben McNeil
Founder, Metafact
The most damaging medical hoax of the 20th Century
In 1998, the medical journal The Lancet published an article titled “Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children.” Authored by British doctor Andrew Wakefield and 11 coauthors, the article purported to find evidence that the MMR vaccine -- which targets measles, mumps, and rubella -- caused autism and gastrointestinal disorders.
In the years following the publication, hundreds of studies demonstrated no link between vaccines and autism, and scientists harshly criticized Wakefield’s methodology and his failure to disclose conflicts of interests. In 2010, The Lancet fully retracted the original article and Wakefield was stripped of his medical license that same year.
But by then, the damage was already done. Many parents, fearful of causing their children to develop autism, refrained from vaccinating them, and we’re now treated to regular headlines of measles and mumps outbreaks among children. The journal The Annals of Pharmacotherapy characterized Wakefield’s study as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the 20th Century.” Despite the paper’s retraction, vaccine misinformation continues to proliferate and social media and the “anti-vaccination” movement are showing no signs of slowing down.
Because of the wide dispersal of misinformation, it’s important to hear directly from the experts about the importance of vaccinations. That’s where Metafact comes in. In this week’s review, we hear from a range of scientists across the globe about vaccine side effects, supposed toxic ingredients, and the safety of herd immunity. Stay tuned...
Of milkmaids, kings and Edward Jenner
In 1796, London was gripped with fear. One in five of deaths came from smallpox, a contagious air-borne virus that would cripple the immune system. Smallpox dates back thousands of years. The mummy of Egyptian King Ramses V, who died in 1157BC, was found to bear the trademark rash. It kills approximately one in three of those infected. Today, smallpox is famous for being the first disease that humankind eradicated from the planet. This immense achievement came about from a serendipitous discovery in country England.
In the 18th century, something curious happened to milkmaids in the English countryside. They would never get smallpox. In 1762 a milkmaid gloated to a curious boy that “I shall never have smallpox for I have had cowpox [and] I shall never have an ugly pockmarked face”. The teenager was Edward Jenner who later became a doctor.
In 1796, Jenner tested the milkmaid idea. He infected eight-year old James Phipps with cowpox using pus gathered from the blisters of Sarah Nelmes, a milkmaid. He then exp