(WSVN) - A recent study has found that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine does not cause autism.
The study, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal, used a sample size of 657,461 children born in Denmark between 1999 and Dec. 31, 2010.
Out of the 657,461 included children, 6,517 were diagnosed with autism. However, researchers found that there was no overall increased risk of autism among those who received the vaccine verses those who did not.
Researchers also discovered that there was no increased risk for children considered to be susceptible to autism, such as those with a sibling with the disorder.
“The study strongly supports that MMR vaccination does not increase the risk for autism, does not trigger autism in susceptible children and is not associated with clustering of autism cases after vaccination,” authors said in the journal.
“The idea that vaccines cause autism is still around despite our original and other well-conducted studies,” study author Anders Hviid wrote in an email to NPR. “Parents still encounter these claims on social media, by politicians, by celebrities, etc.”
According to CNN, the idea that vaccines cause autism grew out of a 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield, published in the medical journal The Lancet. Wakefield lost his medical license in 2010, and in 2011, the Lancet pulled the study after an investigation revealed that Wakefield altered the information.
Subsequent studies have been unable to repeat the same results of Wakefield’s study and have found no link between vaccines and autism.
“MMR does not cause autism,” Hviid told NPR.
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