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Excerpt from www.sciencealert.com
Head to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, and it’s written in bold text: vaccines do not cause autism.
Even so, an incredible 24 percent of US adults think the opposite when it comes to the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine. Another 3 percent aren’t sure.
The stats are based on a survey of 1,522 people carried out by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) at the University of Pennsylvania last April, fuelling concerns that the false beliefs will lead to fewer vaccinations and put a far greater percentage of the population at risk of preventable diseases.
More than a quarter of a century has passed since the former physician Andew Wakefield famously published a fraudulent study linking autism spectrum disorder with MMR vaccines. Though the paper has since been retracted, the APPC team suggests the echoes of the ensuing debate continue to sow concern and confusion.