The screenshot in question appears to show admission of guilt

Dr. Thompson's real apology was his whistleblower confession

(NaturalNews) Controversy has erupted on the blogosphere after a screenshot of an alleged text exchange between Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) whistleblower Dr. William Thompson and gastroenterologist Dr. Andrew Wakefield went viral. The vindictive "skeptics" crowd was quick to denounce the screenshot as fake, but Dr. Wakefield says he really did receive an apology from Dr. Thompson for his role in covering up the link between the MMR vaccine and autism.The screenshot in question shows what appears to be Dr. Wakefield asking Dr. Thompson if "the press release," referring to Dr. Thompson's August 27, 2014, announcement about fraud at the CDC, was real. The contact, shown as "William," responds with an enthusiastic "Yes!" followed by an apology for "the price you paid for my dishonesty."The full exchange was as follows:Dr. Wakefield: "Is the press release real?"Dr. Thompson: "Yes!"Dr. Wakefield: "Thank you. This was the right and honorable thing to do. Andy"Dr. Thompson: "I agree: I apologize again for the price you paid for my dishonesty."Dr. Wakefield: "I forgive you completely and without any bitterness"Dr. Thompson: "I know you mean it and am grateful to know you more personally."You can view a screenshot of the alleged conversation here:Investigative journalist Celia Farber published an article about this apparent text exchange on her website, which almost immediately sparked a wave of conspiracy theories across the web over whether or not the screenshot was legitimate. After all, Dr. Thompson had not verified its legitimacy himself, presumably in accordance with the directives of his legal team.But Dr. Wakefield has apparently confirmed that the exchange did, in fact, happen, for whatever that's worth. Though it seems as though part of the conversation may have been omitted -- it is admittedly wooden and unnatural, as shown in the screenshot -- this is not necessarily indicative that the entire conversation was faked.What this does suggest is that Dr. Wakefield may have removed some of the individual texts from the entire conversation to get the main points of the conversation all on one screen, mainly to show the apology from Dr. Thompson and the rapport between the two men. However, until Dr. Thompson confirms it himself, it would be presumptuous to declare the text real.Regardless of the screenshot controversy, there is no denying that Dr. Thompson came forward to confess his involvement in a CDC coverup that, in large part, helped lead to Dr. Wakefield's eventual shaming by the medical establishment. If the findings of the CDC study on MMR had been published honestly and in full disclosure, Dr. Wakefield's career may have taken a much different route.You can read more about Dr. Thompson as the CDC whistleblower here:"I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the journal," stated Dr. Thompson in his August 27 press release."The omitted data suggested that African American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism . Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after the data were collected, and I believe that the final study protocol was not followed."You can view the corresponding video announcement from Dr. Thompson here: