New Study Reveals No Association Between MMR Vaccine and Autism

No Association Found Between MMR Vaccine and Autism

Study of 95,000 children confirms MMR vaccine does not increase autism risk, even with ASD siblings. No harmful association found.

A newly published study involving 95,000 children reveals that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine was not associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders, regardless of whether older siblings had ASD. The findings indicate no harmful association between the receipt of MMR vaccine and ASD even among children already at higher risk for ASD.

Although a substantial body of research over the last 15 years has found no link between the MMR vaccine and ASD, parents and others continue to associate the vaccine with ASD. Surveys of parents who have children with ASD suggest that many believe the MMR vaccine was a contributing cause. This belief, combined with knowing that younger siblings of children with ASD are already at higher genetic risk for ASD compared with the general population, might prompt these parents to avoid vaccinating their younger children, according to background information in the article.

Anjali Jain, M.D., of the Lewin Group, Falls Church, Va., and colleagues examined ASD occurrence by MMR vaccine status in a large sample of U.S. children who have older siblings with and without ASD. The researchers used an administrative claims database associated with a large commercial health plan. Participants included children continuously enrolled in the health plan from birth to at least 5 years of age during 2001-2012 who also had an older sibling continuously enrolled for at least 6 months between 1997 and 2012.

Of the 95,727 children included in the study, 1,929 (2.01 percent) had an older sibling with ASD. Overall, 994 (1.04 percent) children in the cohort had ASD diagnosed during follow-up. Among those who had an older sibling with ASD, 134 (6.9 percent) were diagnosed with ASD, compared with 860 (0.9 percent) diagnosed with ASD among those with siblings without ASD. The MMR vaccination rate (l dose or more) for the children with unaffected siblings (siblings without ASD) was 84 percent (n = 78,564) at 2 years and 92 percent (n = 86,063) at age 5 years. In contrast, the MMR vaccination rates for children with older siblings with ASD were lower (73 percent at age 2 years and 86 percent at age 5 years). Analysis of the data indicated that MMR vaccine receipt was not associated with an increased risk of ASD at any age.

“Consistent with studies in other populations, we observed no association between MMR vaccination and increased ASD risk among privately insured children. We also found no evidence that receipt of either 1 or 2 doses of MMR vaccination was associated with an increased risk of ASD among children who had older siblings with ASD. As the prevalence of diagnosed ASD increases, so does the number of children who have siblings diagnosed with ASD, a group of children who are particularly important as they were undervaccinated in our observations as well as in previous reports,” the authors write.

This project was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, etc.

Editorial: Promising Forecast for Autism Spectrum Disorders

In an accompanying editorial, Bryan H. King, M.D., M.B.A., of the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, comments on the findings of this study.

“Some parents of children with ASD may have chosen to delay immunization in subsequent children until they were certain any risk had passed. Such behavior, which arguably could enrich the immunization rate in the nonautism subgroup relative to the group that may have been showing early atypical development, might create the impression that the MMR vaccine is actually reducing the risk for ASD. Indeed, Jain et al report relative risks of less than 1.0. Even so, short of arguing that MMR vaccine actually reduces the risk of ASD in those who were immunized by age 2 years, the only conclusion that can be drawn from the study is that there is no signal to suggest a relationship between MMR and the development of autism in children with or without a sibling who has autism.”

“Taken together, some dozen studies have now shown that the age of onset of ASD does not differ between vaccinated and unvaccinated children, the severity or course of ASD does not differ between vaccinated and unvaccinated children, and now the risk of ASD recurrence in families does not differ between vaccinated and unvaccinated children.”

References:

“Autism Occurrence by MMR Vaccine Status Among US Children With Older Siblings With and Without Autism” by Anjali Jain, MD; Jaclyn Marshall, MS; Ami Buikema, MPH; Tim Bancroft, PhD; Jonathan P. Kelly, MPP and Craig J. Newschaffer, PhD, 21 April 2015, JAMA.
DOI: 10.1001/jama.2015.3077

“Promising Forecast for Autism Spectrum Disorders” by Bryan H. King, MD, MBA, 21 April 2015, JAMA.
DOI: 10.1001/jama.2015.2628

7 Comments on "New Study Reveals No Association Between MMR Vaccine and Autism"

  1. Kenneth Elder | April 22, 2015 at 7:07 pm | Reply

    Are the scientists who did the research that found no association between vaccines and autism also under the pay of the drug companies who make the vaccines? Given the control industry has over federal agencies and the well documented corrupt science of the drug industry I think this is highly probable. Even large studies can be made up of cherry picked smaller studies from an even much larger pool of small studies bigger than the meta-study in question. It’s easy to pick out a minority of studies that support you view. Get out of your science journals and start researching on the alternate news section of the Internet not owned by the Fascist oligarchy of super billionaires and wake up out of your materialist stupor of an attitude that wants to see the material human universe as being more stable than it is.

  2. So sad that these scientists were found to have fabricated results and been paid for their research.

    I guess the legal teams will deal with them and their labs in due course.

    • Mrs lynda Mcdonald | January 9, 2023 at 7:10 am | Reply

      Well I have 2 grandchildren siblings one being a twin and bother severely disabled no name given genetics in the system would wide but no matches. Got videos and pictures of them before there immunisationsand both were normal babies only changed after immunizations now they both have seizures can’t talk cant walk and can’t hold anything. No answers as to what it is yet. Luke 6 and Aria 4.

  3. Kathy McKinney | July 2, 2020 at 4:41 am | Reply

    I would like to know if this article about the new stem research into autism, is true. If it is, can a person put an 8-year-old girl in on a trial? She is very smart, on the autism spectrum. Mother won’t talk about it. She plays on her I-pad constantly. She comes out with words that most persons do not understand. Can you try this new drug on my great-niece? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

  4. Thimerasol, the mercury-based preservative suspected of causing ASD, was removed from the MMR vaccine in 2001. So of course this study is based on a cohort of children born after that date.

  5. My son developed ASIA – Autoimmune Inflammatory Syndrome Induced By Adjuvants, followed by MIBE – Measles Inclusive Body Encephalitis and SSPE – Subacute Sclerosis Pan Encephalitis post MMR Vaccine. A listed Known Adverse Reaction From The MMR Vaccine. In Fact Its Officially Recognised In His Medical Records as -‘Autistic Injection Related’.

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