Children who receive the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine are not at increased risk for autism, and that includes children who are sometimes considered to be in “high risk” groups for the neurodevelopmental disorder, a massive new study finds.

The new study, published today (March 4) in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, is one of the largest studies of its kind to date. In it, researchers looked at the records of more than 657,000 children born in Denmark between 1999 and 2010, including about 6,500 who had received an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. ASD is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects a person’s ability to communicate, interact and behave appropriately with others in social situations.

The study shows, as many before it have time and again, that “[caregivers] shouldn’t choose to not vaccinate because of this punitive association between the MMR [vaccine] and autism,” said study principal investigator Anders Hviid, a senior researcher in the Department of Epidemiology Research at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen. “There’s really strong science that there is no association.

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