The Truth About Autism

Despite claims of harm, years of research from more than seven countries all support that vaccines have been proven to be safe, with no link to developmental disorders, including autism. This has also been confirmed in the United States federal court. More than 600 pages of reports on multiple test cases were reviewed and showed no scientific evidence linking vaccination and autism. This also is supported by the New York State Department of Health, along with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the Canadian National Advisory Committee on Immunization, the Department of Health of the United Kingdom and many other reliable organizations around the world. If you're interested in learning more, read "Clear Answers and Smart Advice About Your Baby's Shots (immunize.org)" and "Evidence Shows Vaccines Unrelated to Autism."

The only connection between autism and vaccine is age. When a young child is diagnosed with a developmental delay such as autism, parents naturally search for a cause and look to recent events in the child's life. Since the onset of autism is at the age when children receive vaccinations, some parents falsely connect the two. In fact, autism appears to be rising even among unvaccinated children (jama.ama-assn.org). It also is four times more likely to impact boys (cdc.gov) (versus girls), and more research is necessary to find the actual cause.

After years of investigation, former doctor Andrew Wakefield, London-based author of the highly publicized report connecting autism and vaccines, was found to have acted unethically, and his study was proven false by multiple sources. Because of his report, fear spread across the world, and many parents stopped vaccinating their children. At the same time, measles and other diseases such as mumps and pertussis (whooping cough), which were once on the decline, began to increase. In 2010, the General Medical Council in England, declared that Wakefield's paper published in 1998, that linked the MMR vaccine and autism, was not only based on bad science, but on deliberate fraud (immunize.org). He has since lost his medical license.