A massive new study from Denmark found no association between being vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella and developing autism.
In science and public health circles, that issue has long since been considered settled, with multiple studies over many years discounting the findings of a small study published more than 20 years ago that has since been expunged from the medical literature.
But the size of this study — involving 657,461 Danish children born between 1999 and 2010 — should, in theory, bolster the argument that doctors and public health professionals still find themselves forced to make in the face of entrenched and growing resistance to vaccination in some quarters.
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Why redo the work? Because the misplaced concern hasn’t gone away, said Anders Hviid, one of the researchers involved in the study.
“The idea that vaccines cause autism is still going around. And the anti-vaxx movement, if anything, has perhaps only grown stronger over the last 15 years,” he told STAT. “The trend that we’re seeing is worrying.”
Six measles outbreaks are currently ongoing in the United States, with 206 cases reported in January and February, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read full, original post: It’s old news that vaccines don’t cause autism. But a major new study aims to refute skeptics again
