Is autism correlated with vaccinations (II)?

References 6 through 10 deal with a different type of study - they examine whether there is a change in the number of cases of autism when there is a change in the relative number of children vaccinated. Reference 6 is a UK study, that tracks children aged 12 years or younger diagnosed with autism 1988-­99, with further analysis of boys aged 2 to 5 years born 1988-­93. During this period, the prevalence of MMR vaccination was over 95% and virtually constant. However, the risk of autism increased nearly fourfold among boys aged 2 to 5 years born in 1988-­93, indicating that there is no correlation between vaccination and autism.

Reference 7 is a California study, looking at rates of vaccination of kindergarten chidren born between 1980 and 1994 and comparing to the rate of autism diagnosis. In this period, there was a factor of 5 increase in autism diagnoses, but only a 14% increase in the immunization rate, leading again to the conclusion that there is no correlation.

Reference 8 deals specifically with the preservative Thimerosal, in this Danish study. They studied all children between 2 and 10 years old, diagnosed with autism between 1971 and 2000. Thimerasol was used up to 1990. However, there is no decrease in the rate of rise of autism cases after the use of Thimerosal was discontinued

Reference 9 presents results results of a study in Yokohama, Japan. The vaccination rate decreased between 1988 and 1992, and stopped completely in 1993. However, autism cases continued to rise dramatically after 1993, again demonstrating the lack of correlation between vaccination and autism. A similar Japanese study (reference 10), that expands upon these results, comes to an identical conclusion.

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Last Modification - February 18, 2008