Comprehensive review of every vaccine study under the sun proves what we already knew: Vaccines are safe, effective & DON'T CAUSE AUTISM.

Not that any of this will appease anti-vaxxers any more than solid, comprehensive, overwhelming scientific evidence will get Climate Change Deniers, Obama Birthers, 9/11 Truthers or the Flat Earth Society to let it go already, but I'm presenting it here anyway:

The researchers, from the RAND Corporation, searched databases of scientific literature for vaccine-related studies, turning up 20 ,478 in total. This included studies of childhood vaccines — such as DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis), hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza, meningococcal, MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), and varicella — as well as adult vaccines such as flu shots.

Then they boiled this number down to 166 controlled studies — the gold standard of scientific research — in order to directly compare the effects of being vaccinated with the effects of getting a placebo injection or no vaccination.

CRUCIALLY, THEY FOUND ABSOLUTELY NO LINK BETWEEN CHILDHOOD VACCINES AND AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

They found that the vaccines commonly administered to both kids and adults in the US are all safe and effective. Crucially, there was absolutely no link between childhood vaccines and autism spectrum disorders. In other words, kids who didn't get the MMR vaccine (most frequently claimed to cause autism) were diagnosed with autism at the exact same rates as children who did get the vaccine.

Some of the vaccines were linked with mild side effects: the flu shot, for instance, was found to increase the chance of a short-term fever and pain at the injection site.

But allergic reactions can generally be identified beforehand and properly managed during the vaccination process, and the slightly increased chance of largely harmless seizures is easily outweighed by the potentially huge cost of not getting vaccinated against lethal diseases.

The research is clear: vaccines are safe and necessary for all children.