# Vaccines Do NOT Cause Autism **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 2, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191 "2014-07-02T14:39:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/61 "2015-09-30T23:41:24Z")
I’m still trying to figure this nonsense out. How does accepted scientific fact suddenly become “unacceptable” and “unprovable” just because Jenny McCarthy and a crooked doctor say so? The very idea that this could happen at all has me looking over my shoulder for a Trump presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/62 "2015-10-01T17:43:38Z")
This morning in the comments section of a blog focusing on pseudoscience I saw this from a poster: “Science is not exclusive to scientists.” It’s not an unusual mindset, especially among antivaxers, anti-GMOers etc. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/63 "2015-10-01T19:46:43Z")
There is good news. There was an effort to put a proposition on the ballot in California to repeal the new required vaccination law. The anti-vaxxers failed badly - and came nowhere near the required number of signatures, even before the signatures got checked. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/64 "2015-10-01T20:15:18Z")
**LavenderBlue** or **Kolga** , would you mind posting a link to your book? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/65 "2015-10-01T21:30:03Z")
Of course Vaccines Do NOT Cause Autism. Vaccines cause rabies, and uneducated opinions count as peer review. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/66 "2015-10-02T20:42:10Z")
Antivaxers thought the study they were helping to fund would show a vaccine-autism link. Unfortunately for them, it backfired. Researchers looked at different groups of infant macaques, which were given thimerosal-containing vaccines, non-thimerosal-containing vaccines or control solutions, and found that vaccine administration (with or without thimerosal) was _not_ associated with neurodevelopmental delays or other problems (the monkeys developed similarly to controls). > **[More Proof That Vaccines Don't Cause Autism](https://www.newsweek.com/anti-vaxxers-accidentally-fund-study-showing-theres-no-link-between-autism-and-379245)** > > An anti-vaxxer organization is up in arms because a primate study it funded concluded that childhood immunizations are safe. Alycia Halladay, the chief science officer of the Autism Science Foundation reiterates what most of us have learned time and again - no matter how much evidence piles up to support vaccine safety, antivaxers keep trying to shift the goalposts. \*"Halladay likens the challenge of disputing the claim that vaccines cause autism to “playing whack-a-mole.” “First, the proposed association was between the MMR vaccines and autism,” she says. “Then that was disproven. Then it was the thimerosal components in vaccines; now that has been further disproven in a carefully designed animal model study that aimed to specifically examine that question. It has also been suggested that the association is because of vaccine timing, but that too has been disproven. The target always seems to be moving, and the expectation is that scientific resources will be diverted to address each new modification of this hypothesized link."\* The antivax groups that funded the study (including SafeMinds, which contributed $250,000) apparently are not happy with the results. :(:)😃 More money that could be used to investigate actual causes of autism (and lead to effective prevention/treatment) will probably still be wasted on studies like this one. Hopefully, we won’t have to kill off any more monkeys to placate antivaxers. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/67 "2015-10-02T20:59:27Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > \*"Halladay likens the challenge of disputing the claim that vaccines cause autism to “playing whack-a-mole.” Well at least their meta-review has proven that vaccines cause mole-people. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/68 "2015-10-02T21:04:11Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > **LavenderBlue** or **Kolga** , would you mind posting a link to your book? I’m not one of the authors, but here is the [link](http://www.amazon.com/Your-Babys-Best-Shot-Vaccines/dp/1442215798/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443819762&sr=8-1&keywords=Your+baby%27s+best+shot). ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/69 "2015-10-02T22:14:10Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > This morning in the comments section of a blog focusing on pseudoscience I saw this from a poster: > > “Science is not exclusive to scientists.” > > It’s not an unusual mindset, especially among antivaxers, anti-GMOers etc. My response to that is that it **is** , but that anyone can be a scientist, or at least act scientifically. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/70 "2015-10-02T22:29:16Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I’m not one of the authors, but here is the [link](http://www.amazon.com/Your-Babys-Best-Shot-Vaccines/dp/1442215798/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443819762&sr=8-1&keywords=Your+baby%27s+best+shot). Thanks! I love how the reviews on Amazon are pretty evenly split between five stars and one star. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2015, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/71 "2015-10-03T09:21:36Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Actually, if she wanted to sell more books, wouldn’t it be better in their interest to sow seeds of doubt and uncertainty? Get people skeered, and they might pick up a book to learn more… Skeered people seek out those that share their fear and reject those that reject their fears. Rationality is not the amygdala’s strong point. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2015, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/72 "2015-10-03T11:11:03Z")
I got my flu shot yesterday. I’ll let y’all know when I get very late onset autism. I think I’m getting it now; woke up with a sniffly nose and itchy eyes. Those are symptoms! Either that, or the cat slept on my head last night. I’m not sure which. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/73 "2015-10-03T17:02:44Z")
Obviously, autism is caused when pregnant mothers worry about their kids having autism. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/74 "2015-10-04T22:24:07Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > This morning in the comments section of a blog focusing on pseudoscience I saw this from a poster: > > “Science is not exclusive to scientists.” > > It’s not an unusual mindset, especially among antivaxers, anti-GMOers etc. I’d never heard that line before and I actually really like it. This probably isn’t how the commenter meant it, but I read it as a reminder that all of us use science every day, intentionally or not. It’s not just something that exists far away in labs, for academics, and can safely be ignored or dismissed as elitist; it’s a concrete part of everyone’s daily life, and you don’t get to ignore or dismiss it. That doesn’t mean that my scientific practice is equal to the professionals’ and should be given the same credence, obviously. Any more than my singing while I cook dinner is as good as Nina Simone’s. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/75 "2015-10-05T07:23:01Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > There is good news. There was an effort to put a proposition on the ballot in California to repeal the new required vaccination law. The anti-vaxxers failed badly - and came nowhere near the required number of signatures, even before the signatures got checked. Whoa! Maybe I just missed seeing it, or maybe I haven’t been following the news closely enough. Did SB 277 get passed and signed into law? Is it the law now? Did it end up with any idiotic amendments to water it down? ETA: Aha. I just googled that for me. [Gov. Brown signed it on June 29, 2015.](http://www.nvic.org/nvic-vaccine-news/august-2015/sb277-fallout-what-happens-next.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/76 "2015-10-08T19:42:32Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > 🙂 > The good news? Certain disease (polio, rubella, measles) are very close to joining smallpox on the ash heap of history. There’s also wonderful developments including more vaccines in the future and vaccines that can be delivered without needles. That’s doubtful: > [@](#): > > About 9 million U.S. children are susceptible to measles, either because they haven’t received the vaccine against the viral disease or because they aren’t up to date with their shots, a new study shows. > > The findings suggest that although enough people are vaccinated to prevent measles from spreading widely in the United States, there could still be large outbreaks of the disease, due to clusters of unvaccinated children, the researchers said. > **[9 Million US Kids at Risk for Measles](https://www.livescience.com/52429-measles-vaccine-kids.html)** > > About 9 million U.S. children are susceptible to measles, either because they haven't received the vaccine against the viral disease or because they aren't up to date with their shots. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/77 "2015-10-09T20:15:11Z")
Surprised nobody beat me to this. [Anti-Vaxxers Accidentally Fund a Study Showing No Link Between Autism and Vaccines](http://www.newsweek.com/anti-vaxxers-accidentally-fund-study-showing-theres-no-link-between-autism-and-379245) ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/78 "2015-10-09T20:23:08Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > This morning in the comments section of a blog focusing on pseudoscience I saw this from a poster: > > “Science is not exclusive to scientists.” > > It’s not an unusual mindset, especially among antivaxers, anti-GMOers etc. I know, let’s put vaccines in GMO foods. That’ll piss them off. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/79 "2015-10-10T00:29:39Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Surprised nobody beat me to this. > > [Anti-Vaxxers Accidentally Fund a Study Showing No Link Between Autism and Vaccines](http://www.newsweek.com/anti-vaxxers-accidentally-fund-study-showing-theres-no-link-between-autism-and-379245) Post 66 did beat you to it. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191/80 "2015-10-10T02:17:13Z")
Huh. Now how could I have missed that? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism/692191.md?page=5)