More whack-a-mole claims about autism and vaccines

Vaccines do not cause autism, but misinformation falsely claiming a link between vaccines and autism persists. First, anti-vaccine activist Wakefield published a fraudulent study that falsely claimed a link between autism and MMR. Now, a well-known anti-vaccine lawyer is claiming that thimerosal in the Hep B vaccine caused a 1995 “explosion” in autism a few years after the vaccine became widely available. Let’s review the problems with this claim.

First, studies show that thimerosal does not increase the risk of autism. In addition, thimerosal has not even been used in childhood vaccines since 2001.

Second, autism diagnoses continued to rise following the 2001 removal of thimerosal from all childhood vaccines. The continued rise of autism diagnoses is, in fact, mostly due to growing awareness and changing diagnostic criteria.

Our anti-vaxxer does allude to a study that was approved by the CDC. This study used Vaccine Safety Datalink data to evaluate the effects of thimerosal in childhood vaccines. The study identified a signal of an increase of autism, but a signal does not necessarily indicate causation between vaccination and side effects. A signal suggests a need for further study. As a cautionary measure, however, the birth dose of the Hep B vaccination was suspended until the thimerosal-free vaccine was available in 1999.