The measles vaccine does not increase the risk of autism. A major new study confirms this fact, which has been accepted science for years.

The study of 650,000 Danish children investigated the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The results were published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine: “The risk for autism was no different in children who got the MMR vaccine than in children who did not. This remained true even among children who had risk factors for autism, such as a sibling with autism or an older father.”

Anyone with cockamamie reasons to flout established science will still do so. But for someone with a shred of doubt, or just in need of fresh fuel to push back on a friend or family member who avoids vaccines, it’s a timely dose of new evidence.

We weighed in on anti-vax parents on Feb. 10, after measles was diagnosed Downstate and spread alarmingly in the Pacific Northwest.

“Measles can cause lifelong effects including deafness. It is ugly, with its blotchy, fevered spots, some of which leave permanent scars. It’s highly contagious and miserable to experience,” we said.

With a touch of sympathy for worried parents, we also noted:

“Watching plump, pure baby flesh pierced and feeling trepidation about how the child’s system will react can be legitimately nerve-wracking for a parent. That’s no license to avoid a medical necessity that protects child and community. The right to resist comes with a corresponding responsibility to back up that impulse with rigorous research.”

Now we have even more research to back us up.

-Chicago Tribune

March 6