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Home » Vaccines do NOT cause autism — RFK Jr should read this

Vaccines do NOT cause autism — RFK Jr should read this

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Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 02:32 pm

A few months ago, I published an article, similar to this one, that describes the vast breadth and depth of science that conclusively proves that vaccines do not cause autism. After I shared the article on Twitter, several well-meaning individuals said, “This is old news, no one is talking about vaccines and autism anymore.”

And they would be wrong. Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK Jr) and Steve Kirsch, well-known anti-vaccine pseudoscientists, have resurrected this trope/meme/myth once again by claiming that vaccines do cause autism. And it requires me to bring back the breadth and depth of scientific evidence that overwhelmingly shows that vaccines do not cause or are even correlated with autism.

Let me be absolutely clear before you read any more of this article – the fact that vaccines do not cause autism is settled science. And as opposed to what Kirsch and RFK Jr claim, there is no high-quality, peer-reviewed, and published evidence that shows a link between vaccines and autism. In this article, I list over 160 studies that clearly show there is no link.

As I keep telling anti-vaccine activists if they want to “unsettle” the science, and show us actual scientific and medical evidence that vaccines cause autism, bring it to us. But they can’t. Anti-vaxxers like RFK Jr and Steve Kirsch lack any scientific background that would allow them to do real research which would lead to them “unsettling” the science. They cannot because they are not credible sources of information on vaccine science.

And it’s laughable that they want to have a “debate” about vaccines since they will try to claim in this fake debate that vaccines cause autism while ignoring all of the evidence that contradicts their claims. That’s why most pro-vaxxers won’t engage in a debate, because it would be just a spectacle where the anti-vaxxers will use the Gish gallop, anecdotes, VAERS dumpster-diving, misinformation, and logical fallacies to claim that they are victorious while ignoring the vast body of evidence that “proves” that vaccines are safe and effective.

That being said, this article will list out the reasons why the “vaccines cause autism” trope is still being pushed by Kirsch and RFK Jr, what the best evidence says about vaccines and autism, and finally, what are all of the published articles that conclusively show that vaccines do NOT cause autism.

girl wearing knitted sweater standing outside with leaves falling vaccines do not cause autism
Photo by JoEllen Moths on Pexels.com

Why does the “vaccines cause autism” claim still live?

Let’s start right at the beginning of the whole “vaccines cause autism” trope. And that would be Mr. Andrew Wakefield who published his fraudulent study on vaccines and autism, a paper that was subsequently retracted. It actually did not show a link between the MMR vaccine and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but the anti-vaccine crowd has embraced it as if it were a scientific fact. 

Over the over 20 years since the retracted paper was first published, Mr. Andy Wakefield, fraud extraordinaire, has continued to propagate the myth about vaccines and autism. But in case it is not clear, nothing in Wakefield’s original paper has any credibility, that’s why it was retracted. Moreover, Wakefield has provided no evidence whatsoever to support his claims.

If you want to read all about Wakefield’s despicable deceit (and unethical study design), you can read it here, here, and here, a series of articles written by award-winning journalist Brian Deer and published in the British Medical Journal (now known as BMJ), a respected peer-reviewed publication. Mr. Deer has even written a book detailing his investigation of Wakefield and his fraudulent research called, “The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Science, Deception, and the War on Vaccines.”

Wakefield’s fraud and chicanery have spawned a cottage industry of other anti-vaxxers who double down on the claim that vaccines cause autism. Thus, someone who is sitting on the fence about vaccinating their children (or themselves, as adult vaccines are as important as the ones for children), hears all of the unsupported claims from the anti-vaccine crowd, then believes that there is a great scientific debate about whether vaccines cause autism.

Furthermore, part of the vaccines and autism myth claims that there is mercury in vaccines so that must damage the brain. I addressed this a while ago — vaccines never contained “mercury,” but vaccines used to include an anti-bacterial agent called thimerosal (or thiomersal for those in non-American countries). Thimerosal is ethyl mercury, not elemental mercury. It does not dissociate into mercury to poison our children.

Not to teach every chemistry in a few sentences, but let’s look at table salt, which is made up of one part sodium and one part chlorine. Sodium (Na) is a highly volatile metal that actually explodes when put in contact with water. Chlorine (Cl) is a poisonous gas that used to be used in warfare. Obviously, when you eat salt you neither explode nor die of poisonous gas, because NaCl (salt) is a different compound. The same is true of ethyl mercury which is a completely different compound.

Nevertheless, thimerosal has not been used in vaccines for over 20 years, except for multi-use vials of flu vaccine. And children and most adults do not receive that vaccine.

So, there isn’t a great debate about whether vaccines cause autism. The anti-vaxxers use rhetoric and logical fallacies to push this claim without ANY scientific support. That’s not a debate, that’s one side, the anti-vaxxers, making claims without evidence and contrary to the vast body of published evidence while the other side, the scientists and physicians who support vaccines, has ALL of the evidence that clearly shows that vaccines do NOT cause autism.

The anti-vaxxers only have fear, uncertainty, and doubt to push their pro-disease agenda. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Vaccines do not cause autism!

vaccines do not cause autism
Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Science shows that vaccines do not cause autism

By cherry-picking a handful of poorly designed articles in poor journals, the anti-vaccine activists tend to find anything that supports the a priori conclusion that vaccines are horrific and they cause autism.

Proper scientifically skeptical thinking says that you review all evidence, giving more weight to the quality and quantity of evidence – then you follow that higher quality and quantity of evidence to a conclusion.

These vaccine deniers ignore the vast weight of evidence of real science published in real journals. They search for the “evidence” that supports their preconceived conclusions.

Real science shows that not only do we lack evidence that vaccines cause autism, but we also have affirmative evidence that vaccines do not cause autism.

One example, published in the journal Vaccine, is a meta-analysis of five cohort studies that included 1,256,407 children and five case-control studies involving 9920 children. As I’ve written before, meta-analyses are the basis, the deepest foundation, of the scientific consensus, and they are the highest quality scientific evidence available. This study is like a gigantic clinical trial because it rolls up the highest quality data from those millions of subjects to develop solid conclusions.

The authors concluded that,

Findings of this meta-analysis suggest that vaccinations are not associated with the development of autism or autism spectrum disorder. Furthermore, the components of the vaccines (thimerosal or mercury) or multiple vaccines (MMR) are not associated with the development of autism or autism spectrum disorder.

This was a powerful, large, and well-constructed meta-review. This study takes all of the evidence and data that had been developed previously and rolled it up into one huge cohort and clinical trial. And once again, we find that vaccines don’t cause autism.

Moreover, a 2019 large, powerful, robust cohort study, with nearly 600,000 subjects, provides nearly unimpeachable evidence that the MMR vaccine and autism are unrelated.

And there is another 2020 systematic review that included 87 studies and nearly 13 million children established that:

Existing evidence on the safety and effectiveness of MMR/MMRV vaccines support their use for mass immunisation. Campaigns aimed at global eradication should assess epidemiological and socioeconomic situations of the countries as well as the capacity to achieve high vaccination coverage. More evidence is needed to assess whether the protective effect of MMR/MMRV could wane with time since immunisation. 

And we actually know what might be the cause of autism – genetics. Two large, powerful studies show just how closely linked autism is to a large set of genes. Again, it has nothing to do with vaccines.  

The myth that vaccines and autism are linked has been debunked and debunked. The science is settled, despite the irrational claims of the pseudoscience world of anti-vaxxers. 

Vaccines and autism citations

Here is a list of 163 peer-reviewed articles, published in high-impact factor or specialized journals, that document the fact that vaccines do not cause autism. If I missed any key ones, please tap me on the shoulder and tell me.

  1. Abu Kuwaik G, Roberts W, Zwaigenbaum L, Bryson S, Smith IM, Szatmari P, Modi BM, Tanel N, Brian J. Immunization uptake in younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism. 2014 Feb;18(2):148-55. doi: 10.1177/1362361312459111. Epub 2012 Oct 8. PubMed PMID: 23045216.
  2. Albizzati A, Morè L, Di Candia D, Saccani M, Lenti C. Normal concentrations of heavy metals in autistic spectrum disorders. Minerva Pediatr. 2012 Feb;64(1):27-31. PubMed PMID: 22350041.
  3. Afzal MA, Ozoemena LC, O’Hare A, Kidger KA, Bentley ML, Minor PD. Absence of detectable measles virus genome sequence in blood of autistic children who have had their MMR vaccination during the routine childhood immunization schedule of UK. J Med Virol. 2006 May;78(5):623-30. PubMed PMID: 16555271.
  4. Ahearn WH. What Every Behavior Analyst Should Know About the “MMR Causes Autism” Hypothesis. Behav Anal Pract. 2010 Spring;3(1):46-50. PubMed PMID: 22479671; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3004684.
  5. Al-Haddad BJS, Oler E, Armistead B, Elsayed NA, Weinberger DR, Bernier R, Burd I, Kapur R, Jacobsson B, Wang C, Mysorekar I, Rajagopal L, Adams Waldorf KM. The fetal origins of mental illness. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2019 Dec;221(6):549-562. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2019.06.013. Epub 2019 Jun 15. Review. PubMed PMID: 31207234; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6889013.
  6. Allan GM, Ivers N. The autism-vaccine story: fiction and deception? Can Fam Physician. 2010 Oct;56(10):1013. PubMed PMID: 20944043; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2954080.
  7. Andrews N, Miller E, Grant A, Stowe J, Osborne V, Taylor B. Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental disorders: a retrospective cohort study in the United kingdom does not support a causal association. Pediatrics. 2004 Sep;114(3):584-91. PubMed PMID: 15342825.
  8. Andrews N, Miller E, Taylor B, Lingam R, Simmons A, Stowe J, Waight P. Recall bias, MMR, and autism. Arch Dis Child. 2002 Dec;87(6):493-4. PubMed PMID: 12456546; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1755823.
  9. Aps LRMM, Piantola MAF, Pereira SA, Castro JT, Santos FAO, Ferreira LCS. Adverse events of vaccines and the consequences of non-vaccination: a critical review. Rev Saude Publica. 2018;52:40. doi: 10.11606/s1518-8787.2018052000384. Epub 2018 Apr 12. Review. Portuguese, English. PubMed PMID: 29668817; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5933943.
  10. Ashmawi NS, Hammoda MA. Early Prediction and Evaluation of Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Cureus. 2022 Mar 24;14(3):e23465. doi: 10.7759/cureus.23465. PMID: 35481307; PMCID: PMC9034898.
  11. Bai D, Yip BHK, Windham GC, Sourander A, Francis R, Yoffe R, Glasson E, Mahjani B, Suominen A, Leonard H, Gissler M, Buxbaum JD, Wong K, Schendel D, Kodesh A, Breshnahan M, Levine SZ, Parner ET, Hansen SN, Hultman C, Reichenberg A, Sandin S. Association of Genetic and Environmental Factors With Autism in a 5-Country Cohort. JAMA Psychiatry. 2019 Jul 17;. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.1411. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 31314057.
  12. Baio J, Wiggins L, Christensen DL, Maenner MJ, Daniels J, Warren Z, Kurzius-Spencer M, Zahorodny W, Robinson Rosenberg C, White T, Durkin MS, Imm P, Nikolaou L, Yeargin-Allsopp M, Lee LC, Harrington R, Lopez M, Fitzgerald RT, Hewitt A, Pettygrove S, Constantino JN, Vehorn A, Shenouda J, Hall-Lande J, Van Naarden Braun K, Dowling NF. Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years – Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2014. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2018 Apr 27;67(6):1-23. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.ss6706a1. PubMed PMID: 29701730.
  13. Baird G, Pickles A, Simonoff E, Charman T, Sullivan P, Chandler S, Loucas T, Meldrum D, Afzal M, Thomas B, Jin L, Brown D. Measles vaccination and antibody response in autism spectrum disorders. Arch Dis Child. 2008 Oct;93(10):832-7. doi: 10.1136/adc.2007.122937. Epub 2008 Feb 5. Erratum in: Arch Dis Child. 2008 Dec;93(12):1079. PubMed PMID: 18252754.
  14. Becerra-Culqui TA, Getahun D, Chiu V, Sy LS, Tseng HF. Prenatal influenza vaccination or influenza infection and autism spectrum disorder in offspring. Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Feb 17:ciac101. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac101. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35174388.
  15. Berger BE, Navar-Boggan AM, Omer SB. Congenital rubella syndrome and autism spectrum disorder prevented by rubella vaccination–United States, 2001-2010. BMC Public Health. 2011 May 19;11:340. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-340. PubMed PMID: 21592401; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3123590.
  16. Black C, Kaye JA, Jick H. Relation of childhood gastrointestinal disorders to autism: nested case-control study using data from the UK General Practice Research Database. BMJ. 2002 Aug 24;325(7361):419-21. PubMed PMID: 12193358; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC119436.
  17. Black SB, Cimino CO, Hansen J, Lewis E, Ray P, Corsaro B, Graepel J, Laufer D. Immunogenicity and safety of measles-mumps-rubella, varicella and Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccines administered concurrently with a fourth dose of heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine compared with the vaccines administered without heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2006 Apr;25(4):306-11. PubMed PMID: 16567981.
  18. Blake J, Hoyme HE, Crotwell PL. A brief history of autism, the autism/vaccine hypothesis and a review of the genetic basis of autism spectrum disorders. S D Med. 2013;Spec no:58-65. Review. PubMed PMID: 23444593.Blake J, Hoyme HE, Crotwell PL. A brief history of autism, the autism/vaccine hypothesis and a review of the genetic basis of autism spectrum disorders. S D Med. 2013;Spec no:58-65. Review. PubMed PMID: 23444593.
  19. Bower H. New research demolishes link between MMR vaccine and autism. BMJ. 1999 Jun 19;318(7199):1643. PubMed PMID: 10373156; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1116011.
  20. Campbell-Scherer D. Evidence from large Danish cohort does not support an association between the MMR vaccine and autism: facts in a post-truth world. BMJ Evid Based Med. 2019 Oct;24(5):198-199. doi: 10.1136/bmjebm-2019-111212. Epub 2019 Jun 19. PubMed PMID: 31217233.
  21. Campisi L, Imran N, Nazeer A, Skokauskas N, Azeem MW. Autism spectrum disorder. Br Med Bull. 2018 Sep 1;127(1):91-100. doi: 10.1093/bmb/ldy026. PubMed PMID: 30215678.
  22. Chang LV. Information, education, and health behaviors: Evidence from the MMR vaccine autism controversy. Health Econ. 2018 May 2. doi: 10.1002/hec.3645. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 29717799.
  23. Chen W, Landau S, Sham P, Fombonne E. No evidence for links between autism, MMR and measles virus. Psychol Med. 2004 Apr;34(3):543-53. PubMed PMID: 15259839.
  24. Christie B. Scottish expert group finds no link between MMR and autism. BMJ. 2002 May 11;324(7346):1118. PubMed PMID: 12008724; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1172158.
  25. Clements CJ, McIntyre PB. When science is not enough – a risk/benefit profile of thiomersal-containing vaccines. Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2006 Jan;5(1):17-29. Review. PubMed PMID: 16370953.
  26. Committee to Review Adverse Effects of Vaccines, Institute of Medicine; Stratton K, Ford A, Rusch E, Clayton EW, editors. Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2011 Aug 25.PubMed PMID: 24624471.
  27. Dales L, Hammer SJ, Smith NJ. Time trends in autism and in MMR immunization coverage in California. JAMA. 2001 Mar 7;285(9):1183-5. PubMed PMID: 11231748.
  28. Davidson M. Vaccination as a cause of autism-myths and controversies. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2017 Dec;19(4):403-407. PubMed PMID: 29398935; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5789217.
  29. de Los Reyes EC. Autism and immunizations: separating fact from fiction. Arch Neurol. 2010 Apr;67(4):490-2. doi: 10.1001/archneurol.2010.57. PubMed PMID: 20385917.
  30. DeWilde S, Carey IM, Richards N, Hilton SR, Cook DG. Do children who become autistic consult more often after MMR vaccination? Br J Gen Pract. 2001 Mar;51(464):226-7. PubMed PMID: 11255906; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1313956.
  31. Demicheli V, Rivetti A, Debalini MG, Di Pietrantonj C. Vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012 Feb 15;2:CD004407. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004407.pub3. Review. PubMed PMID: 22336803.
  32. DeStefano F, Shimabukuro TT. The MMR Vaccine and Autism. Annu Rev Virol. 2019 Apr 15;. doi: 10.1146/annurev-virology-092818-015515. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30986133.
  33. DeStefano F, Bodenstab HM, Offit PA. Principal Controversies in Vaccine Safety in the United States. Clin Infect Dis. 2019 Feb 12. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciz135. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30753348.
  34. DeStefano F, Bhasin TK, Thompson WW, Yeargin-Allsopp M, Boyle C. Age at first measles-mumps-rubella vaccination in children with autism and school-matched control subjects: a population-based study in metropolitan atlanta. Pediatrics. 2004 Feb;113(2):259-66. PubMed PMID: 14754936.
  35. DeStefano F. Vaccines and autism: evidence does not support a causal association. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2007 Dec;82(6):756-9. Epub 2007 Oct 10. Review. PubMed PMID: 17928818.
  36. DeStefano F. MMR vaccine and autism: a review of the evidence for a causal association. Mol Psychiatry. 2002;7 Suppl 2:S51-2. Review. PubMed PMID: 12142951.
  37. DeStefano F, Chen RT. Autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: No epidemiological evidence for a causal association. J Pediatr. 2000 Jan;136(1):125-6. PubMed PMID: 10681219.
  38. DeStefano F, Price CS, Weintraub ES. Increasing exposure to antibody-stimulating proteins and polysaccharides in vaccines is not associated with risk of autism. J Pediatr. 2013 Aug;163(2):561-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2013.02.001. Epub 2013 Mar 30. PubMed PMID: 23545349.
  39. DeStefano F, Thompson WW. MMR vaccine and autism: an update of the scientific evidence. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2004 Feb;3(1):19-22. Review. PubMed PMID: 14761240.
  40. DeStefano F, Thompson WW. MMR vaccination and autism: is there a link? Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2002 Jul;1(2):115-20. Review. PubMed PMID: 12904145.
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  42. DeStefano F, Chen RT. Autism and measles-mumps-rubella vaccination: controversy laid to rest? CNS Drugs. 2001;15(11):831-7. Review. PubMed PMID: 11700148.
  43. Di Pasquale A, Bonanni P, Garçon N, Stanberry LR, El-Hodhod M, Tavares Da Silva F. Vaccine safety evaluation: Practical aspects in assessing benefits and risks. Vaccine. 2016 Nov 8. pii: S0264-410X(16)30974-4. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.10.039. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 27836435.
  44. Di Pietrantonj C, Rivetti A, Marchione P, Debalini MG, Demicheli V. Vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020;4(4):CD004407. Published 2020 Apr 20. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004407.pub4
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  46. D’Souza Y, Fombonne E, Ward BJ. No evidence of persisting measles virus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from children with autism spectrum disorder. Pediatrics. 2006 Oct;118(4):1664-75. Erratum in: Pediatrics. 2006 Dec;118(6):2608. PubMed PMID: 17015560.
  47. Doja A, Roberts W. Immunizations and autism: a review of the literature. Can J Neurol Sci. 2006 Nov;33(4):341-6. Review. PubMed PMID: 17168158.
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  50. Farrington CP, Miller E, Taylor B. MMR and autism: further evidence against a causal association. Vaccine. 2001 Jun 14;19(27):3632-5. PubMed PMID: 11395196.
  51. Fitzpatrick M. The end of the road for the campaign against MMR. Br J Gen Pract. 2007 Aug;57(541):679. PubMed PMID: 17688775; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2099687.
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  129. Price CS, Thompson WW, Goodson B, Weintraub ES, Croen LA, Hinrichsen VL, Marcy M, Robertson A, Eriksen E, Lewis E, Bernal P, Shay D, Davis RL, DeStefano F. Prenatal and infant exposure to thimerosal from vaccines and immunoglobulins and risk of autism. Pediatrics. 2010 Oct;126(4):656-64. doi: 10.1542/peds.2010-0309. Epub 2010 Sep 13. PubMed PMID: 20837594.
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  131. Roehr B. Study finds no association between autism and vaccination. BMJ. 2013 Apr 3;346:f2095. doi: 10.1136/bmj.f2095. PubMed PMID: 23554072.
  132. Richler J, Luyster R, Risi S, Hsu WL, Dawson G, Bernier R, Dunn M, Hepburn S, Hyman SL, McMahon WM, Goudie-Nice J, Minshew N, Rogers S, Sigman M, Spence MA, Goldberg WA, Tager-Flusberg H, Volkmar FR, Lord C. Is there a ‘regressive phenotype’ of Autism Spectrum Disorder associated with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine? A CPEA Study. J Autism Dev Disord. 2006 Apr;36(3):299-316. PubMed PMID: 16729252.
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  134. Russell SJ, Babovic-Vuksanovic D, Bexon A, Cattaneo R, Dingli D, Dispenzieri A, Deyle DR, Federspiel MJ, Fielding A, Galanis E, Lacy MQ, Leibovich BC, Liu MC, Muñoz-Alía M, Miest TC, Molina JR, Mueller S, Okuno SH, Packiriswamy N, Peikert T, Raffel C, Van Rhee F, Ungerechts G, Young PR, Zhou Y, Peng KW. Oncolytic Measles Virotherapy and Opposition to Measles Vaccination. Mayo Clin Proc. 2019 Sep;94(9):1834-1839. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2019.05.006. Epub 2019 Jun 22. Review. PubMed PMID: 31235278; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6800178.
  135. Saemundsen E, Magnússon P, Georgsdóttir I, Egilsson E, Rafnsson V. Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in an Icelandic birth cohort. BMJ Open. 2013 Jun 20;3(6). pii: e002748. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-002748. PubMed PMID: 23788511; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3693420.
  136. Schechter R, Grether JK. Continuing increases in autism reported to California’s developmental services system: mercury in retrograde.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 Jan;65(1):19-24. doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2007.1. PubMed PMID: 18180424.
  137. Schultz ST. Does thimerosal or other mercury exposure increase the risk for autism? A review of current literature. Acta Neurobiol Exp (Wars). 2010;70(2):187-95. Review. PubMed PMID: 20628442.
  138. Sealey LA, Hughes BW, Sriskanda AN, Guest JR, Gibson AD, Johnson-Williams L, Pace DG, Bagasra O. Environmental factors in the development of autism spectrum disorders. Environ Int. 2016 Mar;88:288-98. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2015.12.021. Epub 2016 Jan 28. Review. PubMed PMID: 26826339.
  139. Shevell M, Fombonne E. Autism and MMR vaccination or thimerosal exposure: an urban legend? Can J Neurol Sci. 2006 Nov;33(4):339-40. PubMed PMID: 17168157.
  140. Singh VK, Rivas WH. Detection of antinuclear and antilaminin antibodies in autistic children who received thimerosal-containing vaccines. J Biomed Sci. 2004 Sep-Oct;11(5):607-10. PubMed PMID: 15316135.
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  142. Smith MJ, Woods CR. On-time vaccine receipt in the first year does not adversely affect neuropsychological outcomes. Pediatrics. 2010 Jun;125(6):1134-41. doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-2489. Epub 2010 May 24. PubMed PMID: 20498176.
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  144. Spencer JP, Trondsen Pawlowski RH, Thomas S. Vaccine Adverse Events: Separating Myth from Reality. Am Fam Physician. 2017 Jun 15;95(12):786-794. Review. PubMed PMID: 28671426.
  145. Steffenburg S, Steffenburg U, Gillberg C. Autism spectrum disorders in children with active epilepsy and learning disability: comorbidity, pre- and perinatal background, and seizure characteristics. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2003 Nov;45(11):724-30. PubMed PMID: 14580127.
  146. Stehr-Green P, Tull P, Stellfeld M, Mortenson PB, Simpson D. Autism and thimerosal-containing vaccines: lack of consistent evidence for an association. Am J Prev Med. 2003 Aug;25(2):101-6. PubMed PMID: 12880876.
  147. Stoner R, Chow ML, Boyle MP, Sunkin SM, Mouton PR, Roy S, Wynshaw-Boris A, Colamarino SA, Lein ES, Courchesne E. Patches of disorganization in the neocortex of children with autism. N Engl J Med. 2014 Mar 27;370(13):1209-19. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1307491. PubMed PMID: 24670167; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4499461.
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  149. Takahashi H, Suzumura S, Shirakizawa F, Wada N, Tanaka-Taya K, Arai S, Okabe N, Ichikawa H, Sato T. An epidemiological study on Japanese autism concerning routine childhood immunization history. Jpn J Infect Dis. 2003 Jun;56(3):114-7. PubMed PMID: 12944678.
  150. Taylor B, Lingam R, Simmons A, Stowe J, Miller E, Andrews N. Autism and MMR vaccination in North London; no causal relationship.Mol Psychiatry. 2002;7 Suppl 2:S7-8. PubMed PMID: 12142932.
  151. Taylor B. Vaccines and the changing epidemiology of autism. Child Care Health Dev. 2006 Sep;32(5):511-9. Review. PubMed PMID: 16919130.
  152. Taylor B, Miller E, Farrington CP, Petropoulos MC, Favot-Mayaud I, Li J, Waight PA. Autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: no epidemiological evidence for a causal association. Lancet. 1999 Jun 12;353(9169):2026-9. PubMed PMID: 10376617.
  153. Taylor B, Miller E, Lingam R, Andrews N, Simmons A, Stowe J. Measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and bowel problems or developmental regression in children with autism: population study. BMJ. 2002 Feb 16;324(7334):393-6. PubMed PMID: 11850369; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC65532.
  154. Taylor LE, Swerdfeger AL, Eslick GD. Vaccines are not associated with autism: An evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies. Vaccine. 2014 Jun 17;32(29):3623-9. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.04.085. Epub 2014 May 9. PubMed PMID: 24814559.
  155. Thjodleifsson B, Davídsdóttir K, Agnarsson U, Sigthórsson G, Kjeld M, Bjarnason I. Effect of Pentavac and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination on the intestine. Gut. 2002 Dec;51(6):816-7. PubMed PMID: 12427783; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1773472.
  156. Thompson WW, Price C, Goodson B, Shay DK, Benson P, Hinrichsen VL, Lewis E, Eriksen E, Ray P, Marcy SM, Dunn J, Jackson LA, Lieu TA, Black S, Stewart G, Weintraub ES, Davis RL, DeStefano F; Vaccine Safety Datalink Team. Early thimerosal exposure and neuropsychological outcomes at 7 to 10 years. N Engl J Med. 2007 Sep 27;357(13):1281-92. PubMed PMID: 17898097.
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Note

In almost every case in the list above, I’ve linked to the PubMed abstract, which often has limited information and lacks detailed analyses of methods, statistics and results. It is always preferred that you read the full article, but many of these publications sit behind expensive paywalls (I hate paywalls, they limit free access to scientific data). Students, especially in scientific fields and most academic physicians have access to the full article through their schools’ journal search engine. I have personal access to many, if not most, of the actual articles, and have read them in detail.

PubMed occasionally links to a “free” full version of the article. It can be found on buttons on the top right of the PubMed page, which says “Free Full Text” or something similar. These links may direct you to the actual journal, which graciously makes some articles free for the public, or to PubMed Central, a US National Institutes of Health library of full-text medical and biological articles (although you can find the occasional article in other areas of science). I do not link, usually, to the free version of an article because it changes all the time, so I have found it better to go to PubMed. If there is a PubMed Central version of the article, you will see “PubMed Central PMCID:” in the standardized citation (which I always use for scientific journal articles). Using the PMC number, you can search for it through Google or the PMC website.

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