In November, the Centers for Disease Control changed their website to include language that contradicted decades of growing evidence. An addendum was added to the states “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism” and “Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.” Since that change, every major pediatric and infectious disease organization has come out to reaffirm the public that indeed, vaccines do not cause autism. In fact, this claim is one of the most studied in the history of medical literature.
A Detailed Explanation of the Evidence
I know many people were dismissive of their physician’s insistence that routine childhood vaccines are completely safe. Gaining health literacy is important for patients, but the public availability of medical literature has led to an epidemic of sorts, where individuals with no formal training are trying to interpret confidence intervals, odds ratios, and statistical regressions. As someone with two professional graduate degrees that both involved learning biostatistics, it takes A LOT (ie years) of training to grasp these concepts. I’ve heard claims of “there are no studies,” “these studies are funded by Big Pharma,” and “every vaccinated child I know is autistic” this past week. So, I have decided to break this down in the most simple, easy to read way possible. Here are some general terms explained in oversimplified language:
Odds ratio (OR): the odds of developing an outcome (ie autism) when exposed to something (vaccines). An OR of < 1 would mean the odds of developing autism after exposure would be less than if not vaccinated
Confidence interval (CI): this is a test of statistical significance. In medical literature, it typically means we are at least 95% sure that the “result” can be accepted. Learning to interpret these intervals would take at least a 1-hour lecture, but I can and have confirmed these in the following studies are valid
P-value: another test for statistical significance. Typically, the “result” is acceptable if value is <0.05
In 2014, scientists with NO grant funding performed a meta-analysis of 10 studies that included data from over 1.2 million children (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264410X14006367?via%3Dihub). The findings were pretty decisive:
NO statistically significant risk between vaccines and autism (OR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.92 to 1.06)
NO statistically significant risk between MMR vaccines and autism (OR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.70 to 1.01)
NO statistically significant risk between thimerosol-containing vaccines and autism (OR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.77 to 1.31)
NO statistically significant risk between mercury-containing vaccines (OR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.93 to 1.07)
What about the 10 studies in the meta-analysis? None of the 10 had funding from “Big Pharma” either. Multiple investigations over the last 25 years have never found a link with autism and vaccines. There was one study that did in 1998, however that study has since been removed from publication. That was not because “The Deep State or Big Pharma” told Lancet to remove it, but rather Andrew Wakefield rigged the study with children already suspected to have autism and the study was funded by lawyers of parents suing vaccine companies over other grievances, giving Wakefield a financial reason to rig the study. Simply put, there is NO study in existence showing a possible link between vaccination and autism.
The Consequences of Delaying or Foregoing Vaccination
Finally, I want to talk about what we are seeing in healthcare. Simply, vaccine-preventable diseases have all increased. I’ll just leave you with the raw numbers from the CDC:
Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR): Vaccination rate down 5.3% since 2018
Measles morbidity: 1372 more cases in 2025 than in 2018; 211 (about 1/8th) required hospitalization, 3 died
Diphtheria/Tetanus/Pertussis (DTap): Vaccination rate down 2.9% since 2019
Pertussis morbidity: 16,818 more cases in 2024 (most recent data year) than in 2018; 10 pediatric deaths
Flu: Vaccination rate down 14.9% since 2019
Flu deaths: The 2024-25 flu season saw 280 reported pediatric deaths, the highest for a non-pandemic year since the CDC began tracking them in 2004. This is the deadliest non-pandemic flu season on record for U.S. children
With that, I’ll leave you with 3 truths:
- Vaccines have been proven with many studies to have no link to autism
- Parents of autistic children should not be blamed or demonized if they chose to vaccine their children, as this did not cause their child’s autism
- Vaccine-preventable diseases in children can leave them dead or permanently disabled
Faith, Food and Pharmacy 