My sympathies goes as well to MMR's brother's family and thanks for sharing the story.
I completely disagree about your take on Dr. Wakefield. Yes he is not a fake, but worse than a fake; let me explain.

First of Dr. Wakefield misused his power. He had a support from several coauthors who looked at his findings, trusting his words and providing valuable backup to his research. But this mistrust was nothing compared to the trust bestowed by parents who completely stopped the vaccination for their kids.

The damage doesn't end there, however. Link between MMR and vaccination was suggested before Wakefield started any work on the subject. There very well could be a possibility where MMR vaccine could trigger the dormant gene responsible for autism; recently a Dr (Singh or something) had published an article suggesting the same. The problem now is that this link is not getting the due recognition and research, because people dismiss the link suggesting the work of another scientist trying to sell his own alternate vaccine. Heck, even I easily dismissed the potential link many times.

So, please, no protecting this vile of a person.