Extensive investigation into vaccines and autism[1] has shown that there is no relationship between the two, causal or otherwise,[1][2][3] and that vaccine ingredients do not cause autism.[4] Vaccinologist Peter Hotez researched the growth of the false claim and concluded that its spread originated with Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent 1998 paper, with no prior paper supporting a link.[5]
Despite the scientific consensus for the absence of a relationship[1][2] and the retracted paper, the anti-vaccination movement at large continues to promote theories linking the two.[6] A developing tactic appears to be the "promotion of irrelevant research [as] an active aggregation of several questionable or peripherally related research studies in an attempt to justify the science underlying a questionable claim."[7]
^ abcTaylor LE, Swerdfeger AL, Eslick GD (June 2014). "Vaccines are not associated with autism: an evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies". Vaccine. 32 (29): 3623–9. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.04.085. PMID24814559.
^J., Hotez, Peter (30 October 2018). "Vaccines did not cause Rachel's autism : my journey as a vaccine scientist, pediatrician, and autism dad". JHU Press. ISBN9781421426600. OCLC1020295646.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)