Editorial: Retraction should reassure parents there is no link between vaccines, autism

The British medical journal The Lancet has given a big, if far too belated, boost to the cause of childhood health. Lancet editors this month retracted a 1998 study that linked the childhood MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine to autism.

The retraction should give comfort to parents worried about vaccine effects. The reputed autism-vaccine link has been dangerously resilient. The supposed connection has kept parents from inoculating their children. This despite solid science showing vaccines save lives — and despite solid science showing no link between childhood vaccines and autism spectrum disorders.

The study, conducted by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, was flawed because of questionable research methods, conflicts of interest and ethical breaches.

Lancet editors took the rare step of retracting it entirely, though not before vaccination rates fell and measles made a revival in the United States and Great Britain. Critics say the journal’s disavowal should have come much sooner.

Regardless, the message for parents should be clear: vaccinations remain a safe and sure method of stopping potentially deadly childhood diseases. Immunizations save lives. And, until credible evidence emerges to prove otherwise, they do not cause autism.

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