Vaccine safety tested (again) by injection into infant macaques

(credit: NOAA)

A new paper published in PNAS goes where many studies have gone over the last ten years: it shows that the administration of vaccines does not result in the development of autism-like behavior or brain malfunction. But it does so in dramatic fashion, by giving vaccines to young primates and tracking their development.

This paper, along with many others on this topic over the last several years, aims to correct misconceptions among the public (and presidential candidates) that vaccination is linked to autism. These were fueled by a 1998 publication (since retracted) Lancet paper by Andrew Wakefield. A sector of the public consciousness has been captured by the suggestion that there may be a link between the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The aforementioned paper was retracted due to questionable methodology and a financial conflict of interest. But it linked use of the vaccine preservative thimerosal to the development of autism in a very small cohort of participants. After the paper was published but before its problems became apparent, this preservative was removed from vaccines delivered in childhood as a precautionary measure to reassure parents.