In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. And among those diseases could be COVID-19.
COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy benefits both mother and baby. Side effects are generally mild, and studies don’t show negative effects on the baby. A criticized study that gave COVID-19 vaccines to pregnant rats doesn’t show that vaccines cause autism or that people shouldn’t get COVID-19 vaccines, contrary to claims.
Nevertheless, a notorious crackpot keeps pushing the myth:
Commentator Candace Owens, who has a history of spreading misinformation, shared a post about the study on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, saying it supported long-standing, debunked claims about vaccines and autism. “That’s because vaccines and autism have always been linked, which affected mothers have been trying to tell the general public for decades,” she said. Posts about the study have continued to spread. And last week, yet another punctured the myth:
Key Points
Question Is previous exposure to maternal COVID-19 vaccination in utero associated with increased risk for neurodevelopmental impairment in 12- and 18-month-old infants?Findings In this cohort study including 2261 and 1940 infants aged 12 and 18 months, respectively, in utero exposure to COVID-19 vaccination was not associated with abnormal neurodevelopmental scores on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, third edition, at 12 or 18 months of life.Meaning Results suggest that maternal vaccination against COVID-19 during pregnancy was safe from the perspective of offspring neurodevelopment up to age 18 months.
