Does postpartum administration of MMR vaccine predispose children to ASD?
Because postpartum immunization of rubella-susceptible women is recommended,167 immunization of women of childbearing years is a common practice. Rubella vaccine alone or in combination MMR vaccine, when administered after pregnancy to susceptible women, has been associated with detection of rubella vaccine virus in breast milk, and some breastfed infants have had serologic evidence of infection.168 No clinical manifestations of rubella were seen in those infants, and there has been no report of any harmful effect.169,170 Yazbak has hypothesized that maternal immunization before, during, or after pregnancy predisposes that child or subsequent children to ASD.8 On the basis of the clinical observation that some mothers of children with ASD were vaccinated with MMR as adults, a request was posted on the Internet and in publications of vaccine-related and parent support groups to identify women who have been vaccinated as adults to provide information regarding their own health and the he
