Study: MMR Vaccine Does Not Trigger Autism
BOSTON (CBS) - There is new information that some doctors say could end concerns about the link between vaccines and autism.
The vaccine that had been called into question in the past, based on false science, was the MMR vaccine, or the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.
There's a new study published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA, which says not only does the MMR vaccine not cause autism, it doesn't even cause autism in high risk kids.
Researchers studied nearly 100,000 children and found that those who received the MMR vaccine were no more likely to be diagnosed with autism than unvaccinated children.
And even high risk kids, those with an older sibling with autism, were at no higher risk of autism than those who were not vaccinated.
More than a dozen studies have shown that vaccines do not appear to affect the onset or the course of children with autism, and this latest study should be reassuring, particularly to parents who already have a child affected by autism who might worry about vaccinating younger siblings.