• A study following nearly 70,000 kids in Sweden found no increased risk of autism spectrum disorder among those whose moms received a flu vaccine.
• Past studies have shown flu vaccines during pregnancy are protective for both the woman and baby, and the few have explored the longer-term risks.
• Vaccine hesitancy is on the rise, but more and more research suggests it shouldn't be. 
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A comprehensive study out Monday finds no link between the flu vaccine in pregnancy and autism spectrum disorder in children. 

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, followed nearly 70,000 infants born across seven healthcare regions in Sweden between October 2009 and September 2010. About 40,000 of them were exposed to the influenza A (H1 N1) vaccine in utero. 

The researchers from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, followed all the babies for an average of 6.7 years and found that 1% of those whose moms had received the vaccine and 1.1% of those whose moms didn't receive the vaccine had autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 

Being vaccinated during the first trimester also didn't have any association with a higher link of autism spectrum disorder or autism disorder than receiving the vaccine later in pregnancy, a finding at odds with one prior study showing a small increased risk for the first trimester. 

The results of the current study aren't surprising to Anders Hviid, an epidemiologist at the University of Copenhagen who was not involved in the study but wrote an accompanying editorial. 

"We know that autism has a strong genetic component and that no credible science supports the belief that vaccines administered in pregnancy (or in childhood) can cause autism," he wrote. 

Flu vaccines during pregnancy supports both the mom's and baby's health 

If pregnant women get the flu, they're more likely to have a severe case and to be at higher risk for stillbirth and preterm birth. 

But while past studies have shown flu vaccines during pregnancy are protective for both the woman and baby, few have explored the longer-term risks.

One large 2016 study showed no association between maternal flu vaccines and increased ASD risk, but didn't look only at H1N1 vaccines, as the current study did. 

"This new study provides additional reassurance that maternal H1N1 alone is not associated with increased risk of ASD or AD in their children," Ousseny Zerbo, a researcher at Kaiser Permanente Northern California and an author of the 2016 study. 

Vaccine hesitancy is on the rise, but another study found they're safer than 'almost any other modern medical intervention' 

Vaccine hesitancy has been on the rise in the US in recent years, and the pandemic has turned up even more skeptics. 

But an August study spanning 20 years and including 57 vaccines found "almost no significant side effects were identified," which lead author Dr. Daniel Shepshelovich told Business Insider was " remarkable."

Medical devices and pharmaceuticals do not have that track record. 

"I would tell vaccine-hesitant people that the science and the evidence are clearer on vaccine safety than on almost any other modern medical intervention," Shepshelovich said. "The benefits are huge. And the risk is very very small." 

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