evidence: Enter your email address Subscribe Form error message goes here. Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. Meanwhile, any increase in the autism rate is met with a strong public scrutiny, as parents of children with the conditions continue to look, sometimes in alternative places, for a cause and cure. This year also marks two decades since The Lancet published a now retracted study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that falsified a link between measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. Since its publication, dozens of studies have looked into any possible link between the measles vaccine and autism, and the evidence overwhelming shows no link. After Wakefield’s study, the autism advocacy and medical communities endured a strained relationship, said Dr. Susan Hyman, division chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Just last autumn, a study found children whose older siblings have autism are about 14 percent less likely to be vaccinated than siblings of those without the disorder. "Parents are still afraid because when you put that scary idea out there, it’s hard to put it back in," said Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation (ASF).