Contrary to theories currently being propagated in the United States, courtesy of a health secretary that has long voiced anti-vaccine rhetoric, a new analysis by the World Health Organization has reaffirmed that there is no link between vaccines and autism.
The confirmation follows the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revising its website with language that undermines its previous, scientifically grounded position that immunizations do not cause the developmental disorder autism, despite years of research that demonstrate no casual link between vaccinations and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference in Geneva that autism is not a side effect of vaccines. “Today WHO is publishing a new analysis by the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety that has found, based on available evidence, no casual link between vaccines and autism,” he said.
The committee looked at 31 studies in multiple countries over 15 years relating to vaccines containing thiomersal – a preservative that prevents bacterial and fungal contamination in multidose vials – and aluminum adjuvants.
“The committee concluded that the evidence shows no link between vaccines and autism, including vaccines containing aluminum or thiomersal,” said Tedros.
“This is the fourth such review of the evidence, following similar reviews in 2002, 2004, and 2012. All reached the same conclusion: vaccines do not cause autism.”
“Like all medical products, vaccines can cause side effects, which WHO monitors. But autism is not a side effect of vaccines.”
A purported connection between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism stems from a flawed study published in 1998, which was retracted for including falsified data. Its results have not been replicated and are refuted by voluminous subsequent research.
“The study was later shown to be fraudulent and retracted, but the damage had been done, and the idea has never gone away,” said Tedros.
The WHO chief stressed that over the past 25 years, under-five mortality has plunged by more than half, from 11 million deaths a year to 4.8 million, with vaccination being a major reason behind the drop.
Despite what humanity has been able to achieve because of vaccines, it remains a target by many groups and powerful individuals, and the addition of the US government to those voices makes the job of protecting populations from infectious yet preventable diseases much more difficult.
The WHO is pushing back, using science to strengthen its arguments that vaccines have more benefits than risks, but ultimately it is up to us to weigh the facts and decide which voices to believe: those that are loud, or those that can be backed up with facts and science.*
