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Host Julia Cartwright exposes the fraudulent 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield that falsely linked the MMR vaccine to autism, revealing how one man's deception would cost children their lives worldwide. She dissects Wakefield's elaborate fraud, showing how he manipulated data, reversed timelines, and subjected vulnerable children to unnecessary medical procedures to support predetermined conclusions. Cartwright uncovers the financial motivations behind the deception—payments from lawyers suing vaccine manufacturers and Wakefield's own patent applications for rival vaccines. The episode traces how this fabricated research spread through media echo chambers, creating false balance between scientific consensus and fraudulent claims. She demonstrates the devastating real-world consequences as vaccination rates plummeted and measles returned to communities that had been protected for decades. Through investigative storytelling, Cartwright shows how Wakefield weaponized parental love against public health, creating a movement built on lies that continues to harm children today despite overwhelming evidence debunking his claims.
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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

Host Julia Cartwright reveals the extraordinary triumph of measles elimination in America, taking listeners back to an era when this disease killed over 400 children annually. She chronicles the development of the measles vaccine by Maurice Hilleman, describing the scientific breakthrough that tamed one of humanity's most persistent killers. Through dramatic storytelling, Cartwright illustrates pre-vaccine America where nearly every child got measles, with devastating complications including brain inflammation, pneumonia, and death. She explains how vaccination campaigns achieved the remarkable 95% immunity threshold needed for herd protection, leading to measles' official elimination from the Americas in 2000. The episode explores how this complete success paradoxically created vulnerability—as memories of measles faded, so did appreciation for the vaccine that conquered it. Cartwright shows how the miracle of elimination contained the seeds of its own fragility, setting up the conditions for the disease's eventual return.
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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

In the opening episode, host Julia Cartwright takes listeners into pediatric wards where doctors are encountering measles for the first time in their careers—a disease they only knew from textbooks. She explains what measles actually does to the body, using vivid descriptions to illustrate why this isn't just a simple childhood rash but a potentially devastating illness. Through compelling storytelling, Cartwright breaks down current outbreak statistics, revealing how cases jumped from zero in 2000 to over 1,200 in 2019. She reconstructs major outbreaks like the 2014 Disneyland incident and the 2019 New York crisis, showing how one unvaccinated person can spark widespread transmission. The episode establishes measles' extreme contagiousness and serious complications while exploring how a once-eliminated disease has returned to American communities, setting the stage for this investigative series.
https://amzn.to/4iKfAMs

This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI