Autism and Vaccines Is there an association between the MMR and autism? Is there an association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism? What about Tylenol around the time of MMR vaccination? What does Dr. Erika think is happening?  What does Dr. Erika recommend? (With the understanding that this is just based on common sense, and not necessarily on science…) Research citations for Autism and Vaccines Geier DA, Kern JK, Geier MR. Increased risk for an atypical autism diagnosis following Thimerosal-containing vaccine exposure in the United States: A prospective longitudinal case-control study in the Vaccine Safety Datalink. J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2017 Jul;42:18-24. This was the OLD hepatitis B vaccine. Lyall K, Schmidt RJ, Hertz-Picciotto I. Maternal lifestyle and environmental risk factors for autism spectrum disorders. Int J Epidemiol. 2014 Apr;43(2):443-64. Maternal folate, air pollution are big factors in autism risk.  (Consuming maternal folate BEFORE conception reduces risk.) Schmidt RJ, Tancredi DJ, Ozonoff S, Hansen RL, Hartiala J, Allayee H, Schmidt LC, Tassone F, Hertz-Picciotto I. Maternal periconceptional folic acid intake and risk of autism spectrum disorders and developmental delay in the CHARGE (Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and Environment) case-control study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Jul;96(1):80-9. Leslie DL, Kobre RA, Richmand BJ, Aktan Guloksuz S, Leckman JF. Temporal Association of Certain Neuropsychiatric Disorders Following Vaccination of Children and Adolescents: A Pilot Case-Control Study. Front Psychiatry. 2017 Jan 19;8:3. Geier DA, Kern JK, Geier MR. A Two-Phase Case-Control Study of Autism Risk Among Children Born From the Late 1990s Through the Early 2000s in the United States. Med Sci Monit. 2016 Dec 29;22:5196-5202. Zerbo O, Qian Y, Yoshida C, Fireman BH, Klein NP, Croen LA. Association Between Influenza Infection and Vaccination During Pregnancy and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder. JAMA Pediatr. 2017 Jan 2;171(1):e163609. “There was no association between maternal influenza infection anytime during pregnancy and increased ASD risk. There was a suggestion of increased ASD risk among children whose mothers received an influenza vaccination in their first trimester, but the association was not statistically significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons, indicating that the finding could be due to chance. These findings do not call for changes in vaccine policy or practice, but do suggest the need for additional studies on maternal influenza vaccination and autism.” Goin-Kochel RP, Mire SS, Dempsey AG, et al. Parental report...