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| Vaxxed: From Cover-Up To Catastrophe has now been pulled from the Tribeca line-up Photo: Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival |
Festival co-founder Robert De Niro, who had previously backed the decision to screen Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, issued a second statement outlining the reasons for the decision.
He said: “My intent in screening this film was to provide an opportunity for conversation around an issue that is deeply personal to me and my family. But after reviewing it over the past few days with the Tribeca Film Festival team and others from the scientific community, we do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for.
"The Festival doesn't seek to avoid or shy away from controversy. However, we have concerns with certain things in this film that we feel prevent us from presenting it in the Festival program. We have decided to remove it from our schedule.”
Vaxxed is also co-written by Wakefield, who became infamous in Britain after his 1998 study claiming a link between the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autism - which resulted in a health scare - was later found by the General Medical Council to have violated ethical standards. The British Medical Journal found aspects of the research "fraudulent", the study was retracted by The Lancet and Wakefield was subsequently struck off the medical register.
