This theory originated from a now-disproved paper written by physician Andrew Wakefield in the 1990s in which he stated that autism was caused by the measles MMR vaccine. This hypothesis was soon spread to the public through major news outlets, which lent the hypothesis credibility. Even after the paper was disproved in 2005 by an investigative reporter and retracted from the scientific journal in which it was published, the damage had already been done, and the theory had reached the ears of most Americans. Although the idea that vaccines cause autism is over a decade old, some Americans still subscribe to this idea, and it has had influences on later conspiracies such as that of the COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theory. Read more…