Vaccine linked to autism in dogs?

I read recently about a possible link between canine vaccination and autism in dogs. What are your views on this?

Neil says: I think it is all a lot of nonsense propagated by misguided opinion expressed as fact on social media. Remember, the whole autism-vaccination thing started with (the now struck off) Dr Andrew Wakefield publishing (now discredited) “evidence” in 1998 that the MMR vaccination was causing autism in children.

In fact, the subjects in his “research” were all litigants trying to sue the vaccine company. Regrettably, it has taken 20 years for vaccination levels in humans to return to pre-wakefield levels. Recently, the National Autistic Society said: “There is no link between autism and vaccines. Despite research proving this comprehensively, damaging myths about autism persist in some circles — and must be challenged.”

Humans don’t contract autism. It is a developmental disorder. In dogs, the situation is simple.

The British Veterinary Association confirmed recently that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that autism occurs in dogs, so it is not that they don’t develop it or contract it — dogs just don’t suffer from it.

Unfortunately, I fear that vaccinations, which have done so much good and prevented so much disease in so many species across the world, will continue to be the whipping boy of the conspiracy theorists.