Statement from the Department of Health and Human Services
Regarding the Decisions of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in the
Omnibus Autism Proceeding

If parents have questions or concerns about childhood vaccines, they should talk with their child’s health care provider.

As these cases illustrated, there's no doubt that autism and autism spectrum disorders place a heavy burden on many families. That is one reason why the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services continues to support research to better understand the cause of autistic disorders and develop more effective methods of treatment.

The medical and scientific communities have carefully and thoroughly reviewed the evidence concerning the vaccine-autism theory and have found no association between vaccines and autism. If parents have questions or concerns about childhood vaccines, they should talk with their child’s health care provider.

Hopefully, the determination by the Special Masters will help reassure parents that vaccines do not cause autism.

To read the U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision: http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/node/5026

For more information on the safety of MMR vaccine: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/mmr_vaccine.htm

For more information about autism spectrum disorders and CDC’s autism research: http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/

Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.