The largest study to date says the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) does not cause the developmental disorder autism.

The research was led by researchers with the Newcomen Centre for Child Development in England and published Tuesday in the journal, Archives of Disease in Childhood.

It also confirms what the Canadian Pediatric Society has been saying for some time, a spokesman said.

“This adds yet another study that has demonstrated that there is no relationship between immunization and autism.

“And that is something that has been found again and again when it’s been looked at in any systematic fashion,” said Dr. Robert Bortolussi, chairman of the society’s Infectious Diseases and Immunization Committee.

The study refutes the controversial findings of Dr. Brian Wakefield published in the medical journal, The Lancet in 1998 which indicated a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

The claims led to a decrease in immunization rates in Britain.

“We have not observed a significant impact on coverage or uptake of MMR or other vaccines in National Immunization Coverage Surveys results since that time,” said Alain Desroches, a spokesman for Canada’s Public Health Agency. (…)

“This study really supports the view these are safe vaccines,” David Brown, a researcher at Britain’s Health Protection Agency told Reuters.

“The evidence is now so solid there really isn’t a need for further studies here,” he said.

Bortolussi said the claims linking autism to the MMR vaccine were not founded on good evidence, but they did lead some parents to reject vaccines.

“By doing that, they place not only themselves but society as a whole at risk,” he said. (…)

Source: Canada.com, Canada
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