Enlarge / A child received a vaccination against influenza A (H1N1). (credit: Getty | BSIP)

Kids diagnosed with autism are less likely than the general population to receive the recommended set of safe and protective vaccines—and so are their younger siblings, according to a new observational study in JAMA Pediatrics.

The finding indicates that children with autism and their siblings are at an increased risk of contracting preventable—and dangerous—infectious diseases. It also suggests that a pernicious and completely bogus notion that vaccines cause autism may be spurring hesitancy in some parents.

The authors of the study note in their conclusion: