The Andrew Wakefield study is interesting. Looking at the actual study, it would be obvious (from its very small size) that it was exactly the sort of the study that needed to be verified by more studies (never mind the falsification). But the narrative in the media was a compelling one. It’s really no surprise that worried parents avoided or delayed vaccines.

The situation gets worse when the study results get more complicated or when a study is trying to measure something harder to quantify — for example, medication for depression. And you are absolutely right — with the billions of dollars involved, it becomes difficult to trust drug studies when researchers don’t need to lie, they just need to be “improperly optimistic” with the way they interpret their data and apply statistical methods.