Overview
- WHO’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety analyzed 31 studies from multiple countries over 15 years and found no causal association between vaccines and autism.
- The assessment covered vaccines containing thimerosal and aluminum adjuvants and concluded these components are not linked to autism spectrum disorder.
- WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized that vaccines can have side effects but stated autism is not one of them.
- This is the fourth WHO review on the topic since 2002, with each review reaching the same conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism.
- The findings arrive after the CDC revised its website language last month under U.S. health leadership, a move criticized by medical and autism groups for risking increased vaccine hesitancy.