Study: No link between measles vaccine and autism

One of the biggest issues in the vaccine world is an underlying fear in the general population that a vaccination can trigger autism. Concerns about a link are driving large numbers of parents to ignore recommended vaccinations for their children, and that is in turn raising fears of new outbreaks of measles and other diseases.

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health looked closely to see if the measles vaccine could trigger autism--and found nothing. "We are confident that there is no link between [the measles vaccine] and autism," said W. Ian Lipkin, lead study author.

There were 131 confirmed cases of measles in the U.S. in the first seven months of the year, according to the CDC. That's double the average amount. Most of the children who contracted the illness were not vaccinated.

"We need to ensure the vaccine recommendations are followed to not only protect those who are immunized," said CDC researcher Larry Pickering," but to also provide herd protection for people in the United States and throughout the world who may not be able to receive the vaccine because of their age or respond to the vaccine because of an underlying immunodeficiency."

- read the article from Scientific American