Vaccines and autism

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Extensive investigation into vaccines and autism spectrum disorder[1] has shown that there is no relationship between the two, causal or otherwise,[1][2][3] and that vaccine ingredients do not cause autism.[4] The American scientist Peter Hotez researched the growth of the false claim and concluded that its spread originated with Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent 1998 paper, and that no prior paper supports a link.[5]

Despite the scientific consensus for the absence of a relationship[1][2] and the retracted paper, the anti-vaccination movement at large continues to promote theories linking the two.[6] A developing tactic appears to be the "promotion of irrelevant research [as] an active aggregation of several questionable or peripherally related research studies in an attempt to justify the science underlying a questionable claim."[7]

  1. ^ a b c Taylor LE, Swerdfeger AL, Eslick GD (June 2014). "Vaccines are not associated with autism: an evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies". Vaccine. 32 (29): 3623–9. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.04.085. PMID 24814559.
  2. ^ a b Bonhoeffer J, Heininger U (June 2007). "Adverse events following immunization: perception and evidence" (PDF). Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases. 20 (3): 237–46. doi:10.1097/QCO.0b013e32811ebfb0. PMID 17471032. S2CID 40669829.
  3. ^ Boseley S (February 2, 2010). "Lancet retracts 'utterly false' MMR paper". The Guardian. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  4. ^ "Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism Concerns". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  5. ^ Peter J., Hotez (30 October 2018). "Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism: My Journey as a Vaccine Scientist, Pediatrician, and Autism Dad". JHU Press. ISBN 9781421426600. OCLC 1020295646.
  6. ^ Cummins, Eleanor (February 2019). "How autism myths came to fuel anti-vaccination movements A timeline leading to the 2019 measles outbreaks". Popular Science.
  7. ^ Foster CA, Ortiz SM (February 2016). "Vaccines, Autism, and the Promotion of Irrelevant Research: A Science-Pseudoscience Analysis". Skeptical Inquirer. 41 (3): 44–48. Archived from the original on 2018-10-06. Retrieved 6 October 2018.