FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 20, 2025
Media Contact:
Emily Holwick
AAFP Public Relations
eholwick@aafp.org
Our organizations, representing autistic individuals, their families, medical professionals and public health workers, are alarmed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is promoting the outdated, disproven idea that vaccines cause autism.
Medical researchers across the globe have spent more than 25 years thoroughly studying this claim. All have come to the same conclusion: Vaccines are not linked to autism.
This false rumor distracts from pressing, urgent issues in children’s health. Amplifying this claim and encouraging unnecessary investigations only worsens parents’ fears; it will not lead to better therapies, improved support for caregiving families, or changes in health care, education, and society in ways that would help children with autism thrive. Rather than devoting needed resources right now to support people with autism and their families in every community, our taxpayer-funded health agencies are using public resources to spread harmful rumors. Autistic people are valued members of society and, like all of us, deserve research that helps health care and other systems address genuine needs.
Today, our organizations reject this latest attempt to create fear around routine childhood immunizations. Vaccines rank among our greatest medical success stories. Thanks to vaccines, serious diseases that once made thousands sick every year and caused life-long health issues have become rare. We cannot risk losing this progress. Together, we call on the CDC to return to its long history of promoting evidence-based information in the service of protecting the health and well-being of all Americans.
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American Academy of Pediatrics
Academic Pediatric Association
AcademyHealth
Alanas Foundation
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
American College of Physicians
American Families for Vaccines
American Medical Association
American Pediatric Society
American Pharmacists Association
American Public Health Association
America's Physician Groups
Association for Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology
Autism Science Foundation
Autism Society of America
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Big Cities Health Coalition
CDC Alumni and Friends Network
Common Health Coalition
Defend Public Health
Doctors for America
EXCITE
Families Fighting Flu
Families USA
Gerontological Society of America
Health Equity Community Collaborative
Health in Partnership
Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association
Hepatitis B Foundation
Infectious Diseases Society of America
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health International Vaccine Access Center
National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease
Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
Public Health Foundation
Public Health Institute
Public Health Law Center
Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA)
Society for Pediatric Research
The Arc of the United States
The Task Force for Global Health
Trusted Messenger Program
Vaccinate Your Family