To the editor,

Recent remarks by Dr. Toby Rodgers suggesting a link between vaccination and rising autism diagnoses deserves scrutiny. Having reviewed the studies he cites, I find that his conclusions are not supported by the evidence. The studies in question are cross-sectional in design and therefore cannot establish temporality or causation. At best, they describe correlations. Moreover, they fail to fully adjust for critical confounders such as perinatal risk factors, family history and access to care. Compounding this, the unvaccinated populations used as control groups are very small, which destabilizes the effect estimates and inflates associations.

Dr. Rodgers also neglects to acknowledge the realities of autism. While autism is not itself a cause of death, children and adults wi

See Full Page