Giving Compass' Take:

• In an infographic, Adam Mordecai reveals the long-term consequences of a fake study that falsely connected vaccines with autism, decreasing vaccination rates and increasing child mortality, even after it was revealed to be untrue. 

• How can funders work to combat the damage of fake science? How can vaccination rates be increased in spite of ignorance? 

• Learn how laws can increase vaccination rates. 

A scientist named Dr. Andrew Wakefield published in the medical journal The Lancet that he had discovered a link between autism and vaccines.

After years of controversy and making parents mistrust vaccines, along with collecting $674,000 from lawyers who would benefit from suing vaccine makers, it was discovered he had made the whole thing up. The Lancet publicly apologized and reported that further investigation led to the discovery that he had fabricated everything.

In the intervening years, millions have been spent on studying this further to see if there was anything that could connect autism and vaccines. This is what they found.

Read the full article about vaccines by Adam Mordecai at UPworthy.