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The suggestion that vaccines cause autism can be traced back to the 1990s. Since then, researchers have worked tirelessly to determine if there’s a connection. And have proved time and again that there isn’t.

It started in 1998. Then-doctor Andrew Wakefield created a stir when he published a study claiming to have found a connection between autism and the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine.

In the years to follow, that paper was widely discredited. The journal rescinded the study (the academic equivalent of a public walk of shame). And Wakefield lost his medical license.

The problem? The paper was found to be fraudulent. The results were flat-out false. And the science behind them? Wouldn’t even stand up to the scrutiny of a middle-school science fair.