A new preliminary study suggests that giving Hepatitis B vaccine to newborn baby boys triples the associated risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder. The study is reportedin the newsletter The Age of Autism. The study is reported in the September, 2009 issue of the journal Annals of Epidemiology.

According to researchers, “Boys who received the hepatitis B vaccine during the first month of life had 2.94 greater odds for ASD compared to later- or unvaccinated boys.”

The conclusion states that: “Findings suggest that U.S. male neonates vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine had a 3-fold greater risk of ASD.”

Newborns Should Not Get the Hepatitis B Vaccine?

For a number of reasons, the infant Hepatitis B vaccine has long been controversial. Hepatitis B is a rare, mainly blood-transmitted disease. The main risk factors for hep B are IV drug abusers and those who engage in sex with multiple partners, and to the extent the vaccine is effective, it may be short lived – just 12 years.

Data from Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) indicates that more infants may be harmed from the vaccine than contract Hep B.

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Age of Autism