{"id":11452,"date":"2026-02-11T19:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T01:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/?p=11452"},"modified":"2026-02-11T19:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T01:41:17","slug":"vaccine-myths-that-wont-die-and-how-to-counter-them-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/2026\/02\/11\/vaccine-myths-that-wont-die-and-how-to-counter-them-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaccine myths that won\u2019t die and how to counter them\u2014part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cidrap.umn.edu\/childhood-vaccines\/cidrap-op-ed-vaccine-myths-won-t-die-and-how-counter-them-part-2\">CIDRAP<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cidrap.umn.edu\/childhood-vaccines\/cidrap-op-ed-vaccine-myths-wont-die-and-how-counter-them-part-1\">We explored<\/a>\u00a0four key myths and why they don\u2019t stand up to scrutiny:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u2018Vaccines were never properly tested\u2019<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u2018Vaccinated and unvaccinated kids haven\u2019t been compared\u2019<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u2018The ingredients are toxic\u2019<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u2018Too many, too soon\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Today we\u2019ll delve into five more that you also have likely encountered. The nine myths reflect those most frequently seen in my clinical practice and in discussions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each has been studied extensively and refuted. Yet each persists, because misinformation travels faster than correction and because they tap into genuine fears. Study after study presents solid evidence to the contrary, as I illustrate below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Myth #5: \u2018Vaccines cause autism\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>No vaccine claim has been more thoroughly investigated or more definitively refuted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The concern originated with a 1998 paper by Andrew Wakefield proposing that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine caused autism through bowel inflammation. The study involved just 12 children, lacked a control group, and described symptom timing inconsistent with the proposed mechanism. It was later discovered that Wakefield had undisclosed financial conflicts and had manipulated data.&nbsp;<em>The Lancet<\/em>&nbsp;retracted the paper, and Wakefield lost his medical license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the damage was done. The hypothesis triggered some of the most rigorous epidemiologic scrutiny in medical history. A 2002&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/12421889\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Danish study, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Danish study<\/a>&nbsp;of 537,303 children found no difference in autism risk between those who received the MMR vaccine and those who did not. A 2019&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/30831578\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"follow-up, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">follow-up<\/a>&nbsp;of 657,461 children reached the same conclusion and specifically tested whether children with autistic siblings, a high-risk group, showed increased vulnerability. They did not. A&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25898051\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"US study, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">US study<\/a>&nbsp;of 95,727 children with older siblings, including siblings with autism, found no association. Study after study, country after country, the answer has been the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the MMR hypothesis failed, the focus shifted to thimerosal. When thimerosal was removed and autism rates continued rising, the hypothesis shifted again to \u201ctoo many vaccines given too soon.\u201d When studies of total antigen exposure found no association, critics moved on to aluminum. Each iteration has been tested. Each has failed to find the predicted relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cidrap.umn.edu\/childhood-vaccines\/cidrap-op-ed-vaccine-myths-won-t-die-and-how-counter-them-part-2\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CIDRAP \u00a0 We explored\u00a0four key myths and why they don\u2019t stand up to scrutiny: Today we\u2019ll delve into five more that you also have likely encountered. The nine myths reflect those most frequently seen in my clinical practice and in discussions.&nbsp; Each has been studied extensively and refuted. Yet each persists, because misinformation travels faster [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misinformation-disinformation-and-conspiracy-theories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11453,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11452\/revisions\/11453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}