Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Big Data Shows Measles Vaccine Doesn’t Cause Autism
Bill McEwen updated website photo 2024
By Bill McEwen, News Director
Published 6 years ago on
March 6, 2019

Share

By Jan Hoffman

At a time when measles outbreaks are mounting among clusters of unvaccinated children, notably in Washington state, New York and Texas, a new large study published this week found no association between the measles vaccine and autism — a reason often given by parents for rejecting inoculation.

The new research confirms what has long been widely accepted in the scientific community, and it echoes findings of a 2002 study by members of the same team of scientists about the vaccine, known as MMR because it protects against measles, mumps, and rubella.

In time, 6,517 children received a diagnosis of autism. These researchers found no greater proportional incidence of the diagnosis between the vaccinated and unvaccinated children. This conclusion echoes a finding in their 2002 study of 537,303 Danish children, published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Resurgent Suspicion About Vaccines

But the findings come at a moment of resurging suspicion about vaccine safety, that has been promulgated at the far edges of the internet and on mainstream sites such as Amazon, Facebook, and Pinterest. Many of those companies have taken steps in recent weeks to remove anti-vaccine content, but Monday, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Kyle E. Yasuda, wrote to the chief executives of Google, Facebook, and Pinterest, urging further action in “an urgent request to work together to combat the dangerous spread of vaccine misinformation online.”

In emphatic language, the researchers, who followed 657,461 Danish children born between 1999 and 2010, stated in the Annals of Internal Medicine: “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 clustering of autism cases after vaccination.”

Denmark offers a national vaccination program that is free and voluntary. At regular intervals, a team led by Dr. Anders Hviid, who is with the department of epidemiology research at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, followed the children, 31,619 of whom remained unvaccinated.

The researchers further broke out subgroups of children according to other inoculations, and whether they had siblings with autism.

In time, 6,517 children received a diagnosis of autism. These researchers found no greater proportional incidence of the diagnosis between the vaccinated and unvaccinated children. This conclusion echoes a finding in their 2002 study of 537,303 Danish children, published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Measles More Common in US, Europe

Noting that measles outbreaks are becoming more commonplace in the United States as well as Europe, Hviid said: “U.S. researchers concluded that even a 5 percent reduction in vaccination coverage would triple measles cases, with significant health economic costs. A main reason that parents avoid or are concerned about childhood vaccinations has been the perceived link to autism.”

The results of his study, he said, offered both reassurance and reliable data that no such link exists.

In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr. Saad B. Omer, a public health researcher at Emory University, and Dr. Inci Yildirim at the Emory School of Medicine, pointed out that it has been nearly a decade since the small study that set off alarms about a possible link between the vaccine and autism has been refuted and retracted. Yet resources are being continually poured into studies such as this latest one, to underscore the inaccuracy of that original misfire.

“In an ideal world,” they wrote, “vaccine safety research would be conducted only to evaluate scientifically grounded hypotheses, not in response to the conspiracy du jour.”

They said that doctors and public health officials needed to firmly label the association “a myth.”

Spokesman: Debunking Myth Is ‘Tricky’

“Debunking a myth is tricky,” said Dr. Sean T. O’Leary, a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado at Denver. When you repeat the myth, he said, “you risk reinforcing it. All that parents remember about your complicated explanation about why vaccines don’t cause autism is that they’re somehow linked. So pediatricians should focus on the diseases we’re trying to prevent, and if you have to address a myth, be clear that’s exactly what it is. “

O’Leary, who researches immunization delivery challenges, said that particularly because clinicians are pressed for time, they need to be able to have solid information for parents who want to look further into the issue.

“It can be hard for parents to sort out what’s real and what’s not,” he said.

© Copyright The New York Times News Service, 2019

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno Trustees Choose District Insider Misty Her for New Superintendent

DON'T MISS

Fresno Students Celebrate Earth Day by Planting 5 Valley Oaks

DON'T MISS

Five Arrested in Fresno County Robbery Spree. Some Linked to Venezuelan Gang

DON'T MISS

US Brings First Terrorism Charges Against Alleged Venezuelan Gang Member

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Immigrants Shouldn’t Get Trials Before Deportation

DON'T MISS

Artfully Staged for Takeoff: Fresno Airport Expansion Nears Finish

DON'T MISS

Chipotle Tempers Annual Sales Forecast as Dining-out Takes a Hit

DON'T MISS

Orders to Leave the Country — Some for US Citizens — Sow Confusion Among Immigrants

DON'T MISS

Newsom Seeks Help for Struggling Oil Refiners

DON'T MISS

General Motors to Increase Production at Ohio Transmission Facility

UP NEXT

Kennedy Declares ‘Sugar Is Poison’ While Announcing Ban on Food Dyes

UP NEXT

US Justice Department Cancels Hundreds of Grants for Police, Crime Victims

UP NEXT

Yelich’s 5th Career Slam and Bauers’ 2-Run Homer Power the Brewers to Win Over the Giants

UP NEXT

Happ Hits Game-Ending Single in the 10th as the Cubs Rally Past Dodgers

UP NEXT

Trump: No Plans to Fire Fed Chair Powell, but Wants Lower Rates

UP NEXT

RFK Jr Plans to Phase Out Artificial Dyes From the US Food Supply

UP NEXT

Top Producer at ’60 Minutes’ Quits Amid Trump Lawsuit Pressure

UP NEXT

Israeli Strikes Kill 17 in Gaza and Destroy Heavy Equipment Needed to Clear Rubble

UP NEXT

Baby Bonuses, Fertility Planning: Trump Aides Assess Ideas to Boost Birthrate

UP NEXT

Pope Francis’ Funeral to Be Held Saturday, With Public Viewing Starting Wednesday

Bill McEwen,
News Director
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email

US Brings First Terrorism Charges Against Alleged Venezuelan Gang Member

16 hours ago

Trump Says Immigrants Shouldn’t Get Trials Before Deportation

16 hours ago

Artfully Staged for Takeoff: Fresno Airport Expansion Nears Finish

16 hours ago

Chipotle Tempers Annual Sales Forecast as Dining-out Takes a Hit

16 hours ago

Orders to Leave the Country — Some for US Citizens — Sow Confusion Among Immigrants

16 hours ago

Newsom Seeks Help for Struggling Oil Refiners

16 hours ago

General Motors to Increase Production at Ohio Transmission Facility

16 hours ago

US Justice Department Directs Investigations Over Gender-Affirming Care

16 hours ago

Exclusive: Trump Expected to Sign Order Pushing Training for Skilled Trades

17 hours ago

Kennedy Declares ‘Sugar Is Poison’ While Announcing Ban on Food Dyes

18 hours ago

Fresno Trustees Choose District Insider Misty Her for New Superintendent

Fresno Unified trustees on Wednesday chose Misty Her to be the district’s next superintendent. The school board selected the interim s...

12 hours ago

12 hours ago

Fresno Trustees Choose District Insider Misty Her for New Superintendent

14 hours ago

Fresno Students Celebrate Earth Day by Planting 5 Valley Oaks

From left to right: Anderson Vega Laya, 31; Helan Lopez Sanchez, 29; Aaron Sojo Moreno, 25; Yan Garcia-Heredia, 22; and Albert Hinegues, 19, some linked to a violent Venezuelan gang, have been arrested in connection with a series of armed robberies across Fresno County during the summer of 2024. (Fresno County SO)
15 hours ago

Five Arrested in Fresno County Robbery Spree. Some Linked to Venezuelan Gang

U.S. flag and Judge gavel are seen in this illustration taken, August 6, 2024. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo)
16 hours ago

US Brings First Terrorism Charges Against Alleged Venezuelan Gang Member

16 hours ago

Trump Says Immigrants Shouldn’t Get Trials Before Deportation

16 hours ago

Artfully Staged for Takeoff: Fresno Airport Expansion Nears Finish

16 hours ago

Chipotle Tempers Annual Sales Forecast as Dining-out Takes a Hit

16 hours ago

Orders to Leave the Country — Some for US Citizens — Sow Confusion Among Immigrants

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend