A study published in the Journal of Pediatrics concludes that children who receive their full schedule of vaccines have no increased risk of developing autism. This new research also confirms the findings of a 2010 study that was published in Pediatrics that compared those babies who received all of their vaccines on time during their first year of life with those whose parents had delayed their vaccines. Results of the 2010 study concluded no neuropsychological differences between the two populations studied.

The authors of the current study wanted to address the fear that parents have of administering multiple vaccines, given that 20 years ago, children were vaccinated against 9 diseases, but today they are vaccinated agains 14, according to the CDC. Furthermore, the authors wanted to prove that there is no benefit to delaying vaccines, since it actually increases the health risks for the child. Also, knowing that at least 10% of parents skip or delay their child’s routine vaccinations due to fear of getting too many shots at one time as well as fear of developing autism, it is time that we as a society do something about this. If not, occurrences of once forgotten diseases like measles, mumps, and whooping cough, will continue to resurface.

Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer at Autism Speaks, says that “myths about autism and vaccines have persisted, in spite of the scientific evidence, partly because researchers don’t really know what causes autism. Until we conduct the research to answer the questions about autism’s causes and risk factors, parents will continue to have questions.”

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