CNN and everybody else is reporting that the 1998 study linking the MMR vaccine to autism published in the medical journal The Lancet has been retracted.

Four quick thoughts / reactions to the story:

1) Because of this study, many parents have been in a kind of limbo when thinking about if they should allow their child to get the MMR shot. Do you protect your child from measles, mumps and rubella or from potential autism? Luckily, this question seems to be completely out of play.

2) The General Medical Council of Britain calls this a ‘dishonest and irresponsible report.' How many children have gotten sick or even died from not getting vaccinated? What does this mean for Andrew Wakefield, who conducted the research? Will anything happened to him? Should anything happen to him?

3) Certainly there is a small percentage of children who have reactions to the MMR shot, and some perhaps have had autistic like symptoms as a result. As a society, though, we are likely much healthier for getting this and other vaccines.