Doubt cast on causal link between MMR vaccine and autism

No change is called for in administering the current measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, a new IOM report concludes.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. May 14, 2001.

Washington -- A new Institute of Medicine report has failed to find any apparent link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism.

The evidence reviewed by a 15-member committee "favors rejection of a causal relationship at the population level between MMR vaccine and autistic spectrum disorders," said committee Chair Marie McCormick, MD, ScD, professor and chair of Harvard's Dept. of Maternal and Child Health. The committee released its findings April 23.

However, Dr. McCormick left open the possibility that the MMR vaccine could, "in rare cases," contribute to the development of autism in a small number of children.

"We do not have epidemiological data or tools precise enough to assess rare occurrences of such a response to MMR, if it occurs at all," she said.

The committee recommended that current MMR immunization procedures continue to be followed.

The IOM report is not alone in failing to find a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, notes Bruce Gellin, MD, executive director of the National Network for Immunization Information.

In addition, Medical Research Council in Great Britain released a report and the American Academy of Pediatrics is set to release another report, both discounting a link between the vaccine and autism.

It is this growing body of scientific evidence that will affect what people do, Dr. Gellin said.

But the findings do not put to rest parents' concerns that a link exists between the MMR vaccine and autism. Parents say their children develop normally until they are vaccinated at 15 to 18 months. Shortly afterwards, parents say, they notice pronounced regression in their child's speech and behavior that ultimately leads to a diagnosis of autism. [...]