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==Tags: #pro-vaccination #autism #thimerosal #research-list==
 
# Autism and Vaccines

On a previous version of this page, the allegations contained in a lawsuit brought by Andrew Wakefield were inadvertently mischaracterized as conclusions of the court.  We regret this error. 

### **Beyond the Autism/Vaccine Hypothesis: What Parents Need to Know about Autism Research**

A decade ago most researchers agreed that we needed to study vaccines in relation to autism. We had to reconcile the fact that the number of vaccines children were receiving was increasing, and at the same time, the number of children who were being diagnosed with autism also was on the rise. Fortunately  [this was a question that could be studied – and answered – by science](http://www.health.state.ny.us/prevention/immunization/vaccine_safety/misperceptions.htm). We looked at children who received vaccines and those who didn’t, or who received them on a different, slower schedule. There was no difference in their neurological outcomes.  Multiple studies have been completed which investigated the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination in relation to autism. Researchers have also studied thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, to see if it had any relation to autism. The results of studies are very clear; the data show no relationship between vaccines and autism.  Read the studies themselves below and browse our [recommended reading](http://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/autism-science/recommended-reading) list.

## **Read the Science**

### **Literature Reviews: Autism and Vaccines**

**On-time Vaccine Receipt in the First Year Does Not Adversely Affect Neuropsychological Outcomes****￼** [http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/125/6/1134](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/125/6/1134)￼ _Pediatrics__￼_ _Smith, M and Woods, C__￼_ _June 2010_  
**Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses****￼** [http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/596476](http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/596476)￼ _Clinical Infectious Diseases__￼_ _Offit, Paul and Gerber, Jeffrey S.__￼_ _Feb. 2009_  
**"Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism"****￼** [http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3793/4705/20155.aspx](http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3793/4705/20155.aspx)￼ **Institute of Medicine****￼** **May 2004**

### **Too Many Too Soon?**

**Addressing Parents' Concerns: Do Multiple Vaccines Overwhelm or Weaken the Infant's Immune System?****￼** [http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/109/1/124](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/109/1/124)￼ _Pediatrics__￼_ _Offit, Paul A., Quarles, Jessica, et al.__￼_ _2002_  
**Immunization Safety Review: Multiple Immunizations and Immune Dysfunction****￼** [http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3793/4705/4432.aspx](http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3793/4705/4432.aspx)￼ _Institute of Medicine__￼_ _February 2002_  
**Cellular Immune Responses in Neonates****￼** [http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a790107447~db=all~order=page](http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a790107447~db=all~order=page)￼ _International Reviews of Immunology__￼_ _Fadel S, Sarazotti M.__￼_ _2000_  
**Neonatal and Early Life Vaccinology****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11348697](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11348697)￼ _Vaccine__￼_ _Siegrist CA.__￼_ _2001_  
**The Problem with Dr. Bob's Alternative Vaccine Schedule****￼** [http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/123/1/e164?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=offit&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=date&resourcetype=HWCIT](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/123/1/e164?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=offit&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=date&resourcetype=HWCIT)￼ _Pediatrics__￼_ _Offit, Paul A. and Moser, Charlotte A.__￼_ _January 2009_

### **Thimerosal and Autism Studies**

**Neuropsychological performance 10 years after immunization in infancy with thimerosal-containing vaccines.****￼** [http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/2/475?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=neuropsychological+performance&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/2/475?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=neuropsychological+performance&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT)￼ _Pediatrics__￼_ _Tozzi AE, Bisiacchi P, Tarantino V, De Mei B, D'Elia L, Chariotti F, Salmaso S.__￼_ _January 2009_  
**Continuing Increases in Autism Reported to California's Developmental Services System****￼** [http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/65/1/19](http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/65/1/19)￼ _Archives of General Psychiatry__￼_ _Robert Schechter, MD, MSc and Judith K. Grether, PhD__￼_ _January 2008_  
**Early Thimerosal Exposure and Neuropsychological Outcomes at 7 to 10 Years****￼** [http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/13/1281](http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/13/1281)￼ _New England Journal of Medicine__￼_ _Thompson WW, Price C, Goodson B, et al.__￼_ _September 2007_  
**Lack of Association Between Rh Status, Rh Immune Globulin in Pregnancy and Autism****￼** [http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/114264055/ABSTRACT](http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/114264055/ABSTRACT)￼ _American Journal of Medical Genetics__￼_ _Judith H. Miles and T. Nicole Takahashi__￼_ _May 2007_  
**Comparison of Blood and Brain Mercury Levels in Infant Monkeys Exposed to Methylmercury or Vaccines Containing Thimerosal****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16079072&query_hl=1)￼ _Environmental Health Perspectives__￼_ _Thomas M. Burbacher, PhD__￼_ _April 2005_  
**Thimerosal Exposure in Infants and Developmental Disorders: A Prospective Cohort Study in the United Kingdom Does Not Support a Causal Association****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15342824&query_hl=5)￼ _Pediatrics__￼_ _John Heron and Nick Andrews, PhD and Jean Golding, DSc__￼_ _September 2004_  
**Neurotoxic Effects of Postnatal Thimerosal Are Mouse Strain Dependent****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15184908&query_hl=10)￼ _Molecular Psychiatry__￼_ _M Hornig, M__￼_ _June 2004_  
**Safety of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines: A Two-Phased Study of Computerized Health Maintenance Organization Database****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14595043&query_hl=59)￼ _Pediatrics__￼_ _Thomas Verstraeten, MD__￼_ _November 2003_  
**Association Between Thimerosal-Containing Vaccine and Autism****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14519711&query_hl=16)￼ _Journal of the American Medical Association__￼_ _Anders Hviid, MSc__￼_ _October 2003_  
**Thimerosal and the Occurrence of Autism: Negative Ecological Evidence from Danish Population-Based Data****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15496004&query_hl=19)￼ _Pediatrics__￼_ _Kreesten M. Madsen, MD__￼_ _September 2003_  
**"Autism and Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines: Lack of Consistent Evidence for an Association"****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12880876&query_hl=21)￼ _American Journal of Preventive Medicine__￼_ _Paul Stehr-Green, DrPh, MPH__￼_ _August 2003_  
**Thimerosal and Autism?****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12612255&query_hl=22)￼ _Pediatrics__￼_ _Karen Nelson, MD__￼_ _March 2003_  
**Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants receiving vaccines containing thiomersal: A descriptive study****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12480426&query_hl=30)￼ _The Lancet__￼_ _Michael Pichichero, MD__￼_ _November 2002_

### **Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) Vaccine and Autism Studies**

**Remembering How to Fight Measles** **￼** [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/opinion/remembering-how-to-fight-measl...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/opinion/remembering-how-to-fight-measles.html?emc=eta1&_r=0)￼ _New York Times__￼_ _Paul A. Offit, MD__￼_ _March 2014_  
**How to Think About the Risk of Autism****￼** [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/opinion/sunday/how-to-think-about-the-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/opinion/sunday/how-to-think-about-the-risk-of-autism.html)￼ _New York Times__￼_ _Sam Wang, Ph.D.__￼_ _March 2014_  
**Lack of Association Between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study****￼** [http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0003140](http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0003140)￼ _PLoS One__￼_ _Hornig M, Briese T, Buie T, Bauman ML, Lauwers G, et al.__￼_ _September 2008_  
**Measles Vaccination and Antibody Response in Autism Spectrum Disorders****￼** [http://adc.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/adc.2007.122937v1?maxtoshow=&HIT...](http://adc.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/adc.2007.122937v1?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=baird&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT)￼ _Archives of Disease in Childhood__￼_ _Gillian Baird, F.R.C.Paed.__￼_ _February 2008_  
**Pervasive Developmental Disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Prevalence and Links With Immunizations****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16818529&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_docsum)￼ _Pediatrics__￼_ _Eric Fombonne, MD__￼_ _July 2006_  
**MMR Vaccination and Pervasive Developmental Disorders: A Case-Control Study****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15364187&query_hl=38)￼ _The Lancet__￼_ _Liam Smeeth, MRCGP__￼_ _September 11, 2004_  
**Association of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccine****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12860782&query_hl=40)￼ _Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine__￼_ _Kumanan Wilson, MD, MSc, FRCP__￼_ _July 2003_  
**Neurologic Disorders After Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12415036&query_hl=64)￼ _Pediatrics__￼_ _Annamari Makela, MD__￼_ _November 2002_  
**No Evidence for a New Variant of Measles-Mumps-Rubella-Induced Autism****￼** [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dop...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11581466&query_hl=66)￼ _Pediatrics__￼_ _Eric Fombonne, FRCPsych__￼_ _October 2001_

### **Autism and Vaccines in the Media**

On January 21st, 2011, Dr. Paul Offit was on The Colbert Report speaking about his new book, "Deadly Choices: How The Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All." [Click Here to Watch the Interview](http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/372812/january-31-2011/paul-offit).  
 

### **What's Next?**

If we ask the same questions we’ll get the same answers. We’ve asked the autism vaccine question over two dozen times and each time we get the same response; no relationship.  We need to move on; We need to invest in studying genetics, the brain structures of children with autism, and environmental factors that may be playing a role.   
 

### **Downloadable Materials**

Below are three fact-sheets prepared by physicians at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. They are excellent resources to distribute at events.

- [Vaccines and Autism: What You Should Know](http://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/sites/default/files/CHOP1.pdf)
- [The Facts about Childhood Vaccines](http://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/sites/default/files/CHOP2.pdf)
- [Vaccine Ingredients: What You Should Know](http://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/sites/default/files/CHOP3.pdf)

   
Below are two tables prepared by the initiative Every Child By Two. These tables summarize the major procedures and conclusions of the most recent studies regarding autism and Thimerosal, as well as autism and the MMR vaccine. 

- [Thimerosal and Autism Research Summary](http://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/sites/default/files/Thimerosal%20and%20Autism.pdf)
- [MMR and Autism Research Summary](http://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/sites/default/files/MMR%20and%20Autism.pdf)