Study Confirms No Link Between Measles Vaccine and Autism

A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that there is no link between the measles vaccine and autism.

Currently two doses of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine are currently recommended for children, with the first at age 12 to 15 months and the second at age four to six years. Research over the past 15 years has found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but people still believe there is a link. The new study looked at 95,727 children and found that there is no associated risk between the MMR and ASD.

“These findings indicate no harmful association between MMR vaccine receipt and ASD even among children already at higher risk for ASD,” reads the study. “We also found no evidence that receipt of either one or two doses of MMR vaccination was associated with an increased risk of ASD among children who had older siblings with ASD.”

Although some people still believe that there is a link between the two, the study’s authors say that is just a myth.

“For children born after a hypothetical link between MMR and autism risk was introduced, parental suspicion of developmental delay could influence MMR immunization decision making. Although the extent of this phenomenon is unknown, its existence is one explanation for the pattern of some of the RRs observed here. However, at ages and doses for which this phenomenon would be least likely to operate, there is no evidence of an association between MMR and autism risk.”

Participants included children continuously enrolled in the health plan from birth to at least five years of age during 2001 to 2012 who also had an older sibling continuously enrolled for at least six months between 1997 and 2012. Each child was given doses of the MMR vaccine between birth and five years of age.