Children would suffer needlessly, the incidence of infant and childhood deaths would rise dramatically, and we would reverse the tremendous progress already made in protecting children and communities from disabling and deadly diseases. Vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective in preventing the transmission of serious infectious diseases. Routine immunization is the most effective way to protect children from harmful but preventable diseases, and to thwart the reemergence of the deadly disease outbreaks of the past. We're committed to identifying health problems, finding their causes, and working on ways to prevent or treat them. Many of our efforts, including those involving immunization, are first and foremost devoted to promoting the health of children.
Autism is a serious, life-long, developmental disability.
We support efforts to find and prevent all the causes of autism as rapidly as possible. The currently available scientific evidence does not support the hypothesis that vaccines cause autism. We recognize there is considerable parent interest in this issue, and therefore support additional research regarding this hypothesis. We are doing so because we are committed to ensuring the safest immunization program possible. There is much evidence of the benefits of childhood immunization, including record, or near record, low rates of vaccine preventable diseases in the United States.