Education

One More Time: Even Multiple Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism, CDC Says

By Sarah D. Sparks — March 29, 2013 1 min read
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In the latest installment of the overwhelming evidence against a vaccine link to autism, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a new study this morning that found that multiple vaccines administered at the same time don’t cause autism, either.

A team of researchers from the CDC and Abt Associates analyzed records of 1,008 children born from 1994 to 1999 (256 of whom were identified with autism spectrum disorders). They calculated both the single-day and cumulative cumulative exposures to immune-triggering antigens for children who followed the CDC’s full schedule of immunizations, which include those against devastating illnesses such as polio, whooping cough, and measles. Nearly one in 10 American parents refuse or delay childhood vaccines out of a concern that giving “too many, too soon” can lead to autism, the CDC noted, but its researchers found no difference in either the single-day total or overall vaccine exposure of children up to age 2, regardless of whether or not they had been diagnosed with autism. The researchers also found no connection between the amount of antigens children were exposed to and the risk of developing individual disorders along the spectrum.

Moreover, the CDC noted that today, children are exposed to exponentially fewer antigens by age two, compared to 20 years ago, during the same period that autism incidence has been rising. “The possibility that immunological stimulation from vaccines during the first one or two years of life could be related to the development of ASD is not well-supported by what is known about the neurobiology of [autism spectrum disorders],” the authors said.

Considering the health and education benefits inoculations provide, this sort of data can’t be repeated enough.

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Inside School Research blog.