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The erroneous suggestion that vaccines could cause autism was refuted nine years ago, when a British medical panel concluded in 2010 that Andrew Wakefield, the doctor with undisclosed financial interests in making such claims, had acted with “callous disregard” in conducting his research. But in 2019, professional epidemiologists are still devoting time and resources to discrediting Wakefield’s work, which set off a steep decline in vaccinations, including in the United States, where Wakefield moved in 2004. (Stanley-Becker, 3/5)

Over 95% of the children received the MMR vaccine, and 6,517 were diagnosed with autism. The MMR vaccine did not increase the risk of autism in children who were not considered at risk for the disorder and did not trigger it in those who were, according to the study, published Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. "This idea that vaccines cause autism is still around and is still getting a lot of exposure in social media," noted Anders Hviid, lead study author and senior investigator at Statens Serum Institut in Denmark. (Bracho-Sanchez, 3/4)

The size of this study — involving 657,461 Danish children born between 1999 and 2010 — should, in theory, bolster the argument that doctors and public health professionals still find themselves forced to make in the face of entrenched and growing resistance to vaccination in some quarters. (Branswell, 3/4)

California has one of the strictest requirements for childhood vaccinations in the U.S. after the state eliminated exemptions based on philosophical and religious grounds in 2015. Yet the state has seen a rise of unvaccinated children over the past couple years due to physicians granting medical exemptions from immunization. (Johnson, 3/4)

Rebekah Otto plans to ask her son’s pediatrician to give him a measles vaccination early, before they travel to a wedding this summer in Washington state, where there is an outbreak of the deadly disease. “It gives me a lot of anxiety,” the 32-year-old mother of two from Oakland, Calif., said of the risk of exposing her son to the highly contagious respiratory disease. Washington, New York, Texas and Illinois have reported measles outbreaks, and more than 150 people have been infected nationwide this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (King, 3/4)

The measles outbreak in Washington state and elsewhere is prompting some states to look at tightening vaccine requirements for schoolchildren. But not in Arizona. Lawmakers there have been considering bills to make it even easier for parents to get exemptions for their kids from the usual childhood vaccinations. Supporters of the controversial bills being considered in the Arizona capitol say they are not "anti-vaccine." (Stone, 3/5)