First year outcomes

The authors of this study, a biological engineer and a journalist who believes in alien visitations, also authored a now-retracted article claiming vaccines caused autism in African-American boys.

But back to the article in question. The methods are difficult to ascertain as it doesn’t disclose how the three (total) pediatric practices were chosen. A little over 2000 children were included in the study, and over 30% of them were completely unvaccinated. According to the CDC, approximately 1.3% of children born in 2015-2016 received no vaccines. We can assume the authors showed some selection bias in choosing the pediatric practices to study.

The authors of the study did not control for differences between the groups of unvaccinated and vaccinated children, as vaccination status might be associated with other factors that can impact health status. For example, vaccinated families may be more likely to seek out medical care when problems arise, not necessarily because they are more likely to develop problems in the first place.

Do we know if there are actual differences in the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated children? Yes. Studies in Germany, the Philippines, and the United States show that the advantage of being vaccinated is not getting VPDs while no health advantages hold for remaining unvaccinated.