http://voices.yahoo.com/new-study-shows-link-between-mmr-vaccine-autism-11786825.html?cat=25
Part of the problem with perceptions and vaccination rates in the UK, is the Daily mail that continuously misleads the public to believe that this research was published yesterday, instead of 2002, when it was actually published. The Daily Mail never provides the opportunity for people to comment and correct the date of the article, but folks that pick it up in the US, and copy it to popular media homepages like Yahoo, in the link above thankfully have the opportunity to comment and clarify. The research was not disputed like Wakefield's research, but it only showed a loose correlation with the autoimmune system of children with autism and the measles virus, that is described well in the comment in the article that clarifies the date.
Meanwhile the article continuously is copied across various media outlets around the world, linking the Daily Mail, as the source cited, that misinforms the date of the research from everyone reading the article, in leaving the original statement in the article from 10 years ago that this research was done yesterday. The Daily mail has also done the same thing with associated research from Walker in the US from 2006 that was never published. The Daily Mail plays a role, in why the vaccination rates have dropped in the UK.
The problems with the media are actually greater than the research done by Wakefield, as it only suggested that further research should be done to explore a possible association, while these other articles make it sound like new research replicating the concerns is being done on almost a continuous basis, though it is the replication of the same research in the Daily Caller over the course of a decade.
Unfortunately, I was able to find a few less popular sources in the US, replicating the recent Daily Caller article, that also did not provide the public an ability to comment and clarify the fact that the research was 10 years old.
So, pretty much anytime of the year, when one does a search on the MMR vaccine and Autism they are going to come up with a fairly recent article sourced from the Daily Mail, with this kind of misleading information.
It's a drawback and danger of the internet as TV and radio talk show hosts would not be able to get away with something as outrageous like this in the US. It's scary to think that some people's main source of what's going on in the larger world might be Yahoo, but it is for some. That danger is full illustrated in the link above, particularly for those that don't read down far enough in the comments for a clarification from those in the know.