Yet Another Study Finds No Link Between Autism and Vaccination

Researchers at The Whiteley-Martin Research Centre in Australia recently published a meta-analysis of studies examining the alleged link between vaccines and autism. The study looked at five cohort studies that involved 1,256,407 children, and five case-control studies involving 9,920 children.

The title of the meta-analysis says it all: Vaccines are not associated with autism: An evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies. Among the highlights of the meta-analysis,

  • There was no relationship between vaccination and autism (OR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.92 to 1.06).
  • There was no relationship between vaccination and ASD (autism spectrum disorder) (OR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.68 to 1.20).
  • There was no relationship between [autism/ASD] and MMR (OR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.70 to 1.01).
  • There was no relationship between [autism/ASD] and thimerosal (OR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.77 to 1.31).
  • There was no relationship between [autism/ASD] and mercury (Hg) (OR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.93 to 1.07).
  • Findings of this meta-analysis suggest that vaccinations are not associated with the development of autism or autism spectrum disorder.

Unfortunately, since Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s fraudulent research created the hysteria about vaccines and autism in 1998, the anti-vaccine myth seems impervious to actual science.

Vaccines and Autism–One of These Things Is Not Like The Other

A March 2013 press release from the Journal of Pediatrics notes (emphasis added),

Although scientific evidence suggests that vaccines do not cause autism, approximately one-third of parents continue to express concern that they do; nearly 1 in 10 parents refuse or delay vaccinations because they believe it is safer than following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) schedule (http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/downloads/parent-ver-sch-0-6yrs.pdf). A primary concern is the number of vaccines administered, both on a single day and cumulatively over the first 2 years of life. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers concluded that there is no association between receiving “too many vaccines too soon” and autism.

All the money and effort wasted on disproving the vaccine/autism connection just to appease a scientifically illiterate nation is appalling.