MVEC strongly disagrees with the changes to messaging recently published on the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) web page ‘Autism and Vaccines’.
For a vaccine to be administered in Australia, it must adhere to the strict requirements of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and have supportive evidence to satisfy the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). Australian health authorities involved in vaccine policy and decision‑making are independent of political agenda, influence and financial gain. Transparency and appropriate management of conflicts of interest are integral to maintaining the high standards required to fulfil this responsibility.
Australia has robust vaccine safety monitoring systems that include both active and passive adverse event reporting, and signal detection and investigation. Safety surveillance continues after vaccines are approved and rolled out to a population. There are no safety signals relating to any vaccine (including MMR which protects against , mumps and rubella) or vaccine ingredient (including aluminium) causing autism.
CDC’s recent change to messaging asserts that the statement “vaccines do not cause autism” is not evidence‑based. However, this ignores scientific methodology, whereby researchers seek evidence for a particular event happening – i.e. vaccines causing autism – rather trying to prove that an event can never happen. Dozens of studies involving millions of children have found no link between vaccines and autism. These studies are evidence that vaccines do not cause autism.
Spreading vaccine misinformation and disinformation threatens trust not only in vaccines but also in the processes in place to ensure our safety.
Vaccines have saved 6 lives every minute since 1974. 154 million deaths have been prevented in the last 50 years. The vaccines used in Australia are safe and effective.
资源
- MVEC: Autism and immunisation
- MVEC: Development and registration of vaccines
- TGA: Reaffirming the safety of Australia’s vaccines (November 2025)
- CDC: Global Measles Outbreaks
- Australian Health Protection Committee (AHPC): Statement on measles (May 2025)
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Vaccines and Autism
- SKAI：自闭症呢？
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: Immunisation