Presidential Hopeful's Autism Comment Provokes AAFP Riposte

The AAFP responded quickly when U.S. presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., linked autism to vaccines in statements he made during a town hall meeting in Texas on Feb. 29.

ABC News quoted McCain as saying "there's strong evidence" that the rise in autism among children is linked to the vaccine preservative thimerosal. AAFP President Jim King, M.D., of Selmer, Tenn., took issue with McCain's comments in a March 4 letter to the senator.

"Scientific data overwhelmingly show that there is no association between vaccines and autism, presently or in the past," King wrote. "The sole study that purported a link between vaccines and autism was rejected by all major health organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the World Health Organization, and the study has since been retracted."

The CDC has determined there is no convincing evidence of harm associated with thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative used in low doses in some vaccines, except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site, King noted. "Additionally, thimerosal has not been used as a preservative in those routinely recommended childhood vaccines since 2001."

Ostensibly, McCain was referring to a recent childhood vaccine injury compensation case presented to HHS' Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation. The division concluded that the facts of the case met statutory criteria for demonstrating that vaccinations received by the child on whose behalf the case was brought "significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder, which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder." The division recommended that compensation be awarded in the case.

"Some individuals and organizations have wrongly tried to cite (the case) as proof of a connection between vaccinations and autism," King wrote. "But the Health Resources and Services Administration, which oversees the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act under the HHS, has since issued a statement regarding the aforementioned case which refutes these claims."

King's letter to McCain ends by noting that vaccines are among the safest and most effective means available to keep children healthy. "I am asking you to familiarize yourself with the science and to reconsider how you choose to discuss this issue," King wrote. "Failure to do so could weaken the decades of effort by the AAFP and others in the medical and public health community to promote immunizations and protect children."