Seminar project: Autism and Vaccines

By ninaweisbrod

  • The Lancet publishes paper titled: "Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children" by Andrew Wakefield

  • U.S Food and Drug Administration finds no evidence for thimerosal, which contains mercury, causing neurological harm

  • Vaccines for children no longer contain thimerosal

  • The Journal of the American Medical Association publishes "Time trends in autism and in MMR immunization coverage in California" by Dales et al.

    Finds no relation between the MMR vaccine and Autism in children.

  • Fombonne et al, from Pediatrics, publishes "No evidence for a new variant of measles-mumps-rubella-induced autism."

    This was a study of 96 children who had "pervasive developmental disorders" that found no evidence of any individual syndrome being caused by the MMR vaccine.

  • Makela et al, from Pediatrics, publishes "Neurologic disorders after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination"

    Concludes that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism from a study with 535,544 Swedish children.

  • Madsen et al, from The New England Journal of Medicine, publishes "A population-based study of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism"

    Concludes that MMR vaccine does not cause autism based on data from a study on 537,303 Danish children.

  • Hviid et al, from The Journal of the American Medical Association, publishes "Association between thimerosal-containing vaccine and autism"

    Utilizing data from 467,450 Dutch children, they found no connection between thimerosal and autism.

  • Ten of the 13 authors of the Wakefield paper admit that it did not prove any link between the MMR vaccine and autism

  • The Immunization Safety Review Committee from The Institute of Medicine of the United States' National Academies reports that vaccines do not cause autism

  • Thompson et al, from The New England Journal of Medicine publishes "Early thimerosal exposure and neuropsychological outcomes at 7 to 10 years"

    Finds that there is no correlation between children getting vaccines that contain thimerosal and autism from a study of 1,047 children seven to ten years old.

  • The Lancet formally retracts Andrew Wakefield's paper that was published in 1998

    The Lancet, after an extensive investigation, including investigative work by journalist Brian Deer, issues a formal retraction of the 1998 Wakefield paper.

  • U.K's General Medical Council removes Andrew Wakefield from the medical register

    This is the equivalent of taking his medical license. They referred to him as: "dishonest, irresponsible, and showed callous disregard for the distress and pain of children" for his fake study on the link between vaccines and autism.

  • Price et al, from Pediatrics, publishes "Prenatal and infant exposure to thimerosal from vaccines and immunoglobulins and risk of autism"

    Study of more than 1,000 children found that vaccines containing thimerosal did not increase the risk of getting autism.

  • Taylor et al, from The British Medical Journal, publishes "Vaccines are not associated with autism: An evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies"

    Analysis of ten studies, including over 1.2 million children, finds that thimerosal, mercury, and the MMR vaccinations do not cause autism.