Too many Vaccines Do not Increase Autism Risk

There is no relationship between the number of vaccines administered to a child and autism, a new study says.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which starts normally by age 3, is a developmental disorder that leads to significant social, communication and behavioral changes.  A latest report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that one in every 50 school children in the U.S.was affected with autism.

According to the vaccine schedule recommended by authorities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), babies between birth and 15 months, receive more than 14 vaccines.

However, a concern about vaccines emerged first in 1998, when a small study published in The Lancet provided ample evidence to prove a link between MMR vaccine- a vaccine that is meant to protect against measles, mumps and rubella-  and autism in children. Contradicting the 1998 study, another study reported in the same journal in 2004, looked at a larger population (1,300 children) and proved the vaccine's safety. Countless studies, supporting the 2004 study have been reported since then.

However, many parents, concerned about their child's safety still hesitate to completely follow the vaccine schedule recommended by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the background information provided in the study, the main concern among American parents now is the safety of administering too many vaccines to their children during the initial stages of growth. Researchers from CDC and Abt Associates, Inc,. found  that one-third of the parents in the US are still concerned about vaccines' safety, forcing one in ten parents to skip or delay their children's vaccines.

To remove the unnecessary concern, researchers looked at 256 autistic children and 752 normal children. Researchers examined the participants' exposure to antigens, plus measured and recorded the number of antigens the children received after vaccination. They tracked the total number of antigens in the participants by adding the total number of antigens a child received after vaccinating a single day and from different vaccines up to two years. They found no difference between the number of antigens in the body of  autistic and normal children.

"The possibility that immunological stimulation from vaccines during the first 1 or 2 years of life could be related to the development of ASD is not well-supported by what is known about the neurobiology of ASDs," the authors wrote, in a news release.

The study will be published in The Journal of Pediatrics.