VACCINE RESOURCE COMMITTEE

of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association

View Full List of Vaccine Questions Here

General Vaccine Question #4:

Are vaccines linked to autism spectrum disorder?

This is a common misinformation. There is no scientific evidence that childhood vaccines cause autism.

There have been extensive reviews by independent groups of experts showing that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism. Rumours began in 1998 after a British gastroenterologist said he found in twelve autistic children a virus from measles vaccines and this accounted for their autism. Other researchers were never able to replicate the same results, implying the gastroenterologist’s findings were wrong. An investigation showed this physician had falsified patient data and relied on laboratory reports that he was warned were incorrect. The Lancet that published this paper retracted the false study and the British authorities removed the physician’s license to practice medicine.

With autism rates rising dramatically in recent years, researchers and concerned parents have theorized the causes of autism, and the subject has received much attention. Is the high rate of autism now due to increased diagnosis and reporting, changing autism

definitions, or a rise in the number of people with ASD? People started to blame vaccines as a cause of the increased number of people with ASD. Vaccines and their connection to autism have been the subject of continuous debate. Some parents are concerned that vaccines, particularly the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and preservatives used in other childhood vaccines, may play a role in developing autism in their children. One paper conducted a literature search using PubMed and Google Scholar. It included papers written in the English language from 1998 to 2022, conducting human research that examines the relationship between vaccination and the development of autism using appropriate quality assessment tools. 21 studies were deemed eligible with 19 articles on the link between immunization and the incidence of autism. The results of the 19 articles do not support a causal relationship between childhood immunization and the development of autism.

Sources

Immunize Canada: Talking about Vaccines: Autism 
The BMJ: Wakefield’s article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent
Cureus: Does Vaccination Increase the Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder?