The claims in Wakefield's 1998 The Lancet article were widely reported;[15] vaccination rates in the UK and Ireland dropped sharply,[16] which was followed by significantly increased incidence of measles and mumps, resulting in deaths and severe and permanent injuries.[17] Physicians, medical journals, and editors[18][19][20][21][22] have described Wakefield's actions as fraudulent and tied them to epidemics and deaths,[23][24] and a 2011 journal article described the vaccine–autism connection as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years".[25]