NO, VACCINES do not cause autism, the US Court of Federal Claims has ruled. It found no basis for claims made by three families that the MMR vaccine, combined with a mercury-based vaccine preservative, was responsible for their children’s autism.
More than 5500 claims have been filed by US families seeking compensation through the government’s . The 12 February ruling means those families making the same claim will not receive compensation.
The ruling does not directly affect those making slightly different claims, such as that the preservative thimerosal alone is to blame. But of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania expects a similar outcome for all the cases, as he believes last week’s ruling clearly supports the science. “It’s not only that they didn’t leave a door open, they slammed the door shut,” he says.
Advertisement
In , Special Master wrote that while the daughter of the family had “tragically suffered” due to autism, “the petitioners have also failed to demonstrate that her vaccinations played any role at all in causing those problems”.
