According to the CDC, it is now estimated that 1 in 44 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (CDC, 2022). While this may come across as a shocking statistic, what’s even more troublesome is the misinformation surrounding the topic of autism. One of the most widely spread pieces of misinformation is the accusation that vaccines, specifically the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine, cause autism.

Why do people believe that vaccines cause autism?

In the late 90’s, the medical journal Lancet published a paper by Dr. Andrew Wakefield claiming a link between the MMR vaccine, gastrointestinal issues, and autism. At the time, Dr. Wakefield was a respected scientist in Great Britain in the field of gastrointestinal disorders. Through his research, he ultimately came to the conclusion that the vaccines were causing gastrointestinal issues that then led to neuropsychiatric dysfunction (Texas Children’s Hospital, n. d.). After publication of this article, the vaccination rates in Great Britain and the U. S. dropped as parents did not want to risk their child getting autism.

Since its publication, many doctors and scientists have investigated whether there was any truth to Dr. Wakefield’s claims. In addition to being scrutinized by the medical community, a British freelance writer, Brian Deer, investigated Wakefield and his research. Deer found that Dr. Wakefield had a connection to lawyers that were filing a class-action lawsuit over MMR which may have caused him to falsify some of his records. In addition to his potential financial ties, the medical community was alarmed that such a paper would even be accepted for publication in a medical journal as it did not meet many of the criteria for publication. The sample size alone, with only 12 participants, was way too small to draw such a big conclusion from. In response to the investigations and findings, the General Medical Council of London withdrew Wakefield’s paper (Texas Children’s Hospital, n. d).

So, what does the research tell us?

The makeup of vaccines and time period they’re administered in has no impact on the development of autism

Numerous studies have been conducted since Dr. Wakefield’s claims and there is a significant amount of evidence that tells us vaccines do not cause autism. One such study looked closer at the makeup of vaccines and time between administration as potential links to autism or other learning disorders. DeStefano, et al. studied hundreds of medical records and compared cumulative antigen exposure from the vaccines and the schedules with which they were administered to a future diagnosis of autism. The researchers ultimately concluded that children are not at an increased risk of developing autism after exposure to vaccines whether it’s over a 3-month period, 7-month period, or 2-year period. Furthermore, they could not label the antigen exposure as a potential risk factor (DeStefano, et al., 2013).

The MMR vaccine does not cause autism

One of the risk factors for a child being diagnosed with ASD is that they have an older sibling that has been diagnosed with ASD. One group of researchers took this fact into consideration and used it in their research to help prove that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism. Jain et al. looked at thousands of medical records of children to see how many MMR vaccinations they received, if they had an older sibling with ASD, and if they have ASD themselves. Surprisingly enough, the researchers found that the vaccination rate for children who had siblings that did not have ASD was higher than children with siblings with ASD. They also found no significant link between receiving the MMR vaccine and a later diagnosis of ASD, even among the children who were at an increased risk for autism (Jain, et al., 2015).

In addition to what’s in a vaccine, many people believe that children are receiving too many vaccines at a young age which is causing them to develop autism in the future. A study by Dales, et al. reviewed the medical records of children enrolled in kindergarten in California between 1980 and 1994. They compared these records to the number of children born during the same time period who had a diagnosis of ASD and were enrolled in the California Department of Developmental Services. Interestingly, the researchers found that although the incidence of autism went up from 44 per 100,000 live births in 1980 to 208 per 100,000 live births by 1994, a 373% increase, the vaccination rate during that time period only went up 14%. Through their research, Dales et al. could not find a significant link between vaccine administration and ASD diagnosis (Dales, et al., 2001).

These are just three of numerous studies conducted on this topic that were not able to reasonably conclude that vaccines cause autism. The original paper by Dr. Wakefield was so popular at the time that many people are still holding onto this idea, whether out of fear or ignorance, and many doctors and scientists have worked hard to debunk this myth. I hope the information in this article urges the reader to do their own research, not only on this topic but on other important health-related topics. It’s important to hear different professional opinions rather than take the word of one person, especially when there isn’t enough supporting evidence to uphold their claim. I hope more people, especially future parents, are looking to more recent research on this topic to gather information from.

Resources

CDC. (2022, Mar 2). Data & Statistics on Autism Spectrum Disorder. cdc.gov.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html

Dales, L., Hammer, S., & Smith, N. (2001). Time trends in autism and in MMR immunization

coverage in California. JAMA 285(9), 1183-1185.

DeStefano, F., Price, C., & Weintraub, E. (2013). Increasing exposure to antibody-stimulating

proteins and polysaccharides in vaccines is not associated with risk of autism. The

Journal of Pediatrics, 163(2), 561-567.

Jain, A., Marshall, J., Buikema, A., Bancroft, T., & Newschaffer, C. (2015). Autism

occurrence by MMR vaccine status among US children with older siblings with and

without autism. JAMA, 313(15), 1534-1540.

KOIN 6. (2015, Sep 18). Experts agree: Trump wrong on vaccine-autism connection.

YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8PLvyqQuU4

Texas Children’s Hospital. (n. d). Making Sense of Dr. Andrew Wakefield Now.

Texaschildrens.org. https://www.texaschildrens.org/blog/2011/03/making-sense-dr-andrew-wakefield-now