Scientific evidence indicates that there is no correlation between autism and vaccines though millions of dollars, which might otherwise have gone to funding important research, have been spent investigating this notion. Andrew Wakefield and 12 colleagues published a study in The Lancet tentatively suggesting a link. However, it was discovered that Wakefield was paid over $100,000 by a group of lawyers and parents seeking to sue vaccine manufacturers for damages caused by the MMR injection prior to conducting his research. Additionally, participants were deliberately rather than randomly selected for the study. It is likely they were chosen to suggest a link because they had autism and gastrointestinal difficulties. This link has not been supported by subsequent scientific investigation. Madsen and colleagues (2002) conducted a large scale study in Denmark in which over half a million children born between 1991 and 1998 were studied. Nearly 100,000 were not vaccinated with the MMR vaccine. The prevalence of autism in this group was compared to that observed in the over 400,000 children who did receive the MMR vaccine. If the vaccine was related to autism a difference in prevalence would be apparent, however, prevalence was identical across the groups. This study provides overwhelming evidence against the hypothesis that MMR vaccination causes autism. The CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, the World Health Organization, and the UK’s Medical Research Council have all concluded that there is no evidence that the MMR vaccine is related to autism.
