The British Medical Journal (BMJ) has declared that a paper linking the MMR vaccine to autism was "an elaborate fraud.''

As reported by ScienceDaily, the BMJ publicly dismisses the link, claiming that the "MMR scare was based not on bad science but on a deliberate fraud".

That's according to Dr Fiona Godlee, editor in chief of the BMJ who said: "Clear evidence of falsification of data should now close the door on this damaging vaccine scare".

Dr Godlee, with deputy BMJ editor Jane Smith, and associate BMJ editor and leading paediatrician Harvey Marcovitch, together concluded that there is "no doubt" that researcher Andrew Wakefield faked evidence to support a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. "A great deal of thought and effort must have gone into drafting the paper to achieve the results he wanted: the discrepancies all led in one direction; misreporting was gross," they wrote in the BMJ.

It's welcome news for anyone working with children and parents, whether in a nursery nurse job, at a hospital or in a healthcare centre, for example. The MMR vaccinate has been controversial for over a decade because of the forged report, but now those who work with children will be able to reassure parents that vaccination is the right decision to make and can use this as evidence to mitigate fears that stem from the moral panic the faked report sparked.

"Science is based on trust," said Dr Godlee. "Such a breach of trust is deeply shocking. And even though almost certainly rare on this scale, it raises important questions about how this could happen, what could have been done to uncover it earlier, what further inquiry is now needed, and what can be done to prevent something like this happening again."