Why do some parents link MMR with autism in their child?
Autism is a Developmental Disorder which usually appears in the second year of life. The MMR vaccine is given to children in the UK when they are aged between 1 and 2 years. Because of this, some parents will see signs of autism in the weeks and months before MMR is given, and others will notice them in the weeks and months after MMR is given. Parents who see changes in their child will often link the change to a particular event. For example, at one time it was thought that a second child born within two years could affect the development of autism in the first child. Those parents whose children show signs of autism after MMR understandably often link the two events, but there is no evidence to show that there is cause and effect between MMR and autism. Autism and the introduction of MMR Another way of looking at the possibility of a link between MMR and autism is to see if there is any evidence that the introduction of the MMR vaccine has led to an increase in autism. A recent artic
