Vaccines cause Autism

Question

There is a long standing belief that the effects of vaccines are harmful to younger children, potentially aiding in them developing autism. This claim about autism and vaccines was first published in the late 1990s by former physician Andrew Wakefield.

Comments

I don't think that this statement is reliable solely for its ethical bias as well as the source coming from X.com
The claim that vaccines cause autism has been looked at and debunked by scientific research. The misconception goes back to a 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield, which suggested a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and autism. However, this study was later retracted due to significant methodological flaws and ethical violations. Wakefield lost his medical license after this claim was debunked.
https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/autism-vaccine-link-debunked?
In summary, research and expert consensus have proof that vaccines do not cause autism.

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The claim the vaccines cause autism is false. In the post above, the claim about autism and vaccines was first published by Andrew Wakefield in the 1990s. This study, though, was later retracted because of methodological flaws and ethical violations, and Wakefield lost his medical license after this was debunked. https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/autism-vaccine-link-debunked? When looking at this claim, we should acknowledge the source is coming from X, a social media platform that has ended its fact checking program. To look into this myth, I researched the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention page regarding Autism and Vaccines. Here they debunked multiple claims such as, vaccines as a whole cause autism, the ingredients, they included a study, and what the CDC and FDA are doing. I recommend looking at this source to clear any confusion. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safety/about/autism.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism.html

Answer 1

It is false that vaccines directly trigger autism, however the debate can be further developed. 

The most common argument for vaccines causing autism is a little misinformed, the "autism" in these cases of children receiving unwarranted symptoms is officially classified as "vaccine encephalopathy" which has been proven to be a myth (Berkovic et al. 2006). It was found that in majority of the cases that were classified as being vaccine encephalopathy, the mutation of the SCN1A gene was observed and this mutation acts as a tripper for the onset encephalopathy (Berkvovic et al. 2006). 

Most people stop here, they see that the vaccine caused onset mutation and now the child has autism. First, encephalopathy is not autism, its a disorder that causes brain malfunction, and majority of its cases are genetic (some caused by other types of extreme trauma) (MedLinePlus). Secondly, in the cases where vaccine encephalopathy were studied, it was found that this genetic disorder was caused de-novo (post fertilization) (Doja 2005). Meaning the child already had the genetic disorder from birth and would have it later develop in life. So there is some truth in the vaccine triggering the encephalopathy early, but its not the exact cause. 

The research in this topic is still heavily underway and is usually limited due to number of cases and ability to check other genomes. The medical field is a very large and very confusing area in science and is always being scrutinized. It is easy to be misguided due to a few slightly incorrect studies. One thing this topic may also overlook is how autism is largely genetic. Even if one chemical or medicine truly causes Autism, we will not see it until multiple generations after implementing the vaccine. 

Berkovic, Samuel F., et al. “De-Novo Mutations of the Sodium Channel Gene SCN1A in Alleged Vaccine Encephalopathy: A Retrospective Study.” The Lancet Neurology, vol. 5, no. 6, June 2006, pp. 488–92. www.thelancet.com, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(06)70446-X.

Doja, Asif. “Genetics and the Myth of Vaccine Encephalopathy.” Paediatrics & Child Health, vol. 13, no. 7, Sept. 2008, pp. 597–99. Silverchair, https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/13.7.597.

Ethylmalonic Encephalopathy: MedlinePlus Genetics. https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/ethylmalonic-encephalopathy/. Accessed 6 Feb. 2025.

Answer 2

This claim is false. First off, one of the credited sources for this claim, X, is not a reliable source. The CDC claims that they have funded or conducted nine different studies on this claim since 2003, all of them proving it to be false. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia claims that Andrew Wakefield's original study on this was "critically flawed". The original study claims that MMR vaccines cause autism. Dr. Wakefield describes a sample size of 12 children that developed autism within one month after receiving an MMR. 90% of children had received an MMR vaccine in England at the time this was written. The flaw in this study comes from the fact that MMR vaccines are administered at a time where many children are diagnosed with autism. Most children with autism would have already received an MMR vaccine, regardless of whether it was correlated with autism or not. Observations were only made on incidences of autism in vaccinated children, not unvaccinated, so this study was retracted for being based on scientific misconduct.

CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safety/about/autism.html

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: https://www.chop.edu/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-safety/vaccines-and-other-conditions/autism

Answer 3

After a thorough investigation into this topic, I am now able to determine that this information is completely false, and their is no scientifical data to prove that this is true. It in fact is not even enough of an argument to have many articles on the suject, and google gave me the most direct answer of no that it could when I looked up the topic. I was also not able to easily verify the author with the little information given about him in this article.

Answer 4

This is an example of a really terrible claim and argument. The claim, “vaccines, cause autism”. Is extremely harmful and misleading. For one thing, the title would suggest that all people who have ever gotten a vaccine at any point in time are inevitably going to develop autistic traits or autism. Anecdotally, we know this is not true. Anybody who has gotten a vaccine or knows somebody who has gotten a vaccine and been OK afterwards knows that this claim is in accurate. That being said, most people just having experienced getting a vaccine in their own life can discredit, this claim immediately solely using the basis of their own life experiences. Secondly, the source is really unreliable. The source is x.com formally known as Twitter. Well, there are some good information on that platform, it is available to everyone and extremely acceptable to misinformation. Furthermore, the article cited in the argument on X are also very in accurate and unfounded.

Answer 5

This is an example of a really terrible claim and argument. The claim, “vaccines, cause autism”. Is extremely harmful and misleading. For one thing, the title would suggest that all people who have ever gotten a vaccine at any point in time are inevitably going to develop autistic traits or autism. Anecdotally, we know this is not true. Anybody who has gotten a vaccine or knows somebody who has gotten a vaccine and been OK afterwards knows that this claim is in accurate. That being said, most people just having experienced getting a vaccine in their own life can discredit, this claim immediately solely using the basis of their own life experiences. Secondly, the source is really unreliable. The source is x.com formally known as Twitter. Well, there are some good information on that platform, it is available to everyone and extremely acceptable to misinformation. Furthermore, the article cited in the argument on X are also very in accurate and have been disproven already.

Answer 6

To begin with, this claim has cited a post on X, a social media platform that enables the spread of bias and misinformation. There is also a lack of a health professional’s input to this claim. According to the CDC, a governmental health organization, there is no link between autism, a developmental disability and vaccines. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safety/about/autism.html

This article also contains information about a review from the National Academy of Medicine which found that the majority of vaccines are in fact safe. Therefore, this claim is false.

Answer 7

This claim seems to be false. Firstly, the link posted goes to X.com, which as a “free to speech” social media platform already has a lot of misinformation. Mayo Clinic, a world renowned healthcare provider and research organization has a great page debunking this. The clinic cites a study done in 1998 which attempted to link vaccinations with the autism spectrum disorder, which later on was retracted and its author’s medical license was taken away.

https://x.com/stopvaccinating/status/1766679258976710951?s=20

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/autism-vaccine-link-debunked?