Vaccines and autism
Extensive investigation into vaccines and autism spectrum disorder has shown that there is no relationship between the two, causal or otherwise, and that vaccine ingredients do not cause autism. Major health authorities, including the World Health Organization, the National Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Food and Drug Administration, along with large-scale epidemiological research, reinforce the scientific consensus that vaccines are safe, that multiple concurrent vaccinations do not overwhelm the immune system, and that autism cannot be attributed to vaccination. Scientist Peter Hotez researched the growth of the false claim and concluded that its spread originated with Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent 1998 paper, and that no prior paper supports a link. Despite the scientific consensus for the absence of a relationship, and the Wakefield paper's retraction, the anti-vaccination movement at large continues to promote theories linking the two.
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