Our position – MMR vaccine

Autism can have profound effects on a person and families understandably have questions about its causes, including whether there is a link to vaccines, such as MMR.

Our position

The National Autistic Society is clear that there is no link between autism and the MMR vaccine.

We believe that no further attention or research funding should be unnecessarily directed towards examining a link, that has already been comprehensively discredited. Instead, we should be focusing our efforts on improving the lives of the 700,000-autistic people in the UK, and their families.

The evidence

Much research has been devoted to this issue and the results have repeatedly shown there is no link. This includes a comprehensive review of all available studies on links between autism and vaccines in 2014, using data from more than 1.25 million children.

In addition, the original research linking the MMR vaccine and autism has been comprehensively discredited and the person who wrote it has been struck off the medical register. For a fuller account, please visit the BBC’s website.

We still do not fully understand the exact causes of autism, but research to date has shown it involves many complex and interacting factors, including genetics, the environment and the development of the brain.

For information on any of the above, please contact the National Autistic Society Press Office on 0207 903 3593 or email press@nas.org.uk.

Find out more about the MMR vaccine on the NHS Website


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