A Danish study found that the measles vaccine does not cause autism, not even in children who are considered to be high risk because they have a sibling who has autism. This study adds to the scientific research that contradicts the debunked paper done by Andrew Wakefield.
The study is titled: “Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccinations and Autism: A Nationwide Cohort Study”. It was done by Anders Hviid, Dr. MedSci; Jørgen Vinsløv Hansen, Ph.D; Morten Frisch, DrMedSci; and Mads Melbye, DrMedSci.
The objective of the study was: To evaluate whether the MMR vaccine increases the risk for autism in children, subgroups of children, or time periods after vaccination.
The researchers included 657,461 participants. All were children born in Denmark from 1999 through December 31, 2010. The researchers did a follow-up on the children from 1 year of age through August 31, 2013. The researchers concluded:
The study strongly supports that MMR vaccination does not increase the risk for autism, does not trigger autism in susceptible children, and is not associated with the clustering of autism cases after vaccination. It adds to previous studies through significant additional statistical power and by addressing hypotheses of susceptible subgroups and clustering of cases.
Kids who got the MMR vaccine were seven percent less likely to develop autism than children who didn’t get vaccinated, researchers report in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Reuters reported. Children who had no childhood vaccinations were seventeen percent more likely to be diagnosed with autism than kids who did get recommended vaccinations.
Lead study author Dr. Anders Hviid of the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark, said, “Parents should not skip the vaccine out of fear of autism.” Dr. Hviid also said, “The dangers of not vaccinating includes a resurgence in measles which we are seeing signs of today in the form of outbreaks.”
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