In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio. A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.
A national retrospective cohort study of more than 2.5 million children found no association between receiving the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine before age 2 years and having an autism diagnosis.
“These results reinforce existing evidence supporting the safety of MMR vaccination,” wrote the authors, from the University of Washington.
Some people worry that MMR vaccines cause autism, despite a lack of evidence supporting this theory. This paper is the latest to examine the MMR vaccine and autism by looking at the timing of the vaccine.
Using the Cosmos electronic health record database, researchers looked at the records of more than 2.5 million children who had linked parent information from January 2015 through December 2024. The scientists followed the children until age 8 or their last doctor’s appointment before the study end date.
Receiving the first MMR vaccine dose from ages 11.5 to 24 months was not associated with an increased likelihood of having an autism diagnosis.
Burstain, J. M., Burstain, T. L., & Jacques, D. (2026). Association Between First MMR Vaccination Before Age 2 Years and Childhood Autism in a U.S. EHR Cohort of 2.5 Million Children. Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal https://doi.org/10.1097/INF.0000000000005349
