After a backlash from the medical community, Robert De Niro pulled "Vaxxed," a documentary directed by the former gastroenterologist and known anti-vaccinator advocate, Andrew Wakefield, from the lineup at his Tribeca Film Festival. The film has since found a new home at the Angelika Film Center in New York.
Philippe Diaz, the chairman for the film's distributor Cinema Libre Studio, told The New York Times the studio wanted to rush the film to theatres to combat the impression that the film is anti-vaccine. "Nobody in their normal mind today could be anti-vaccine. That's absurd," said Mr. Diaz. The goal of the film's backers, according to Mr. Diaz, is to examine a cover-up regarding autism research purportedly orchestrated by the CDC and exposed by the organization's former employee William Thompson. "Our main goal is to bring William Thompson to Congress, to testify," said Mr. Diaz.
The CDC has stated that vaccines do not cause autism and has released research supporting this conclusion to the public for peer review. Mr. Wakefield has had his medical license rescinded due to ethics violations.
After first supporting its Tribeca screening, Mr. De Niro said in his reversal that the film would not contribute to a positive discussion about medical and public health issues, according to the Times.
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