A new study failed to find a link between vaccines and autism. This should not be a surprise. As I've noted before, there has never been meaningful evidence of such a link, despite lots of media stories and activist claims to the contrary, and the mainstream medical community firmly rejects claims to the contrary.

The Washington Post reports on the study here. Regrettably, the Post suggests that, prior to this study, there was reliable scientific evidence of a possible vaccine-autism link. In particular, the Post plays up a 1998 study of twelve children that, it says, "suggested" such a link. Given that the failure to vaccinate children has real consequences — over 90 percent of those children diagnosed with measles so far this year had not been vaccinated — it is irresponsible for journalists to suggest the evidence for a vaccine-autism link is stronger than it really is.

UPDATE: Despite fears about a vaccine-autism link, it appears childhood vaccination rates are up.