Amid dangerous vaccine-autism myth, kids with autism aren’t getting their shots

Enlarge / A child received a vaccination against influenza A (H1N1). (credit: Getty | BSIP)

Kids diagnosed with autism are less likely than the general population to receive the recommended set of safe and protective vaccines-and so are their younger siblings, according to a new observational study in JAMA Pediatrics.

The finding indicates that children with autism and their siblings are at an increased risk of contracting preventable-and dangerous-infectious diseases. It also suggests that a pernicious and completely bogus notion that vaccines cause autism may be spurring hesitancy in some parents.

The authors of the study note in their conclusion:

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