Three families who claimed vaccines caused their children’s autism were denied compensation from the federal vaccine-injury fund by a special court on Thursday.
Parents of Michelle Cedillo, Colten Snyder and William Yates Hazlehurst claimed that a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine had combined with other vaccine ingredients to damage their children. They said that thimerosal, a preservative that’s no longer used in most routine children’s vaccines, caused autism in their children, a disorder marked by speech and social impairments.
Therefore, the families sought payment under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a no-fault system that has a $2.5 billion fund built up from a 75-cent-per-dose tax on vaccines.
Special Master George Hastings, a former tax claims expert at the Department of Justice, wrote in his ruling that “the evidence does not support the general proposition that timmesoral-containing vaccines can damage infants’ immune systems. I further conclude that while Michelle Cedillo has tragically suffered from autism and other severe conditions, the petitioners have also failed to demonstrate that her vaccinations played any role at all in causing those problems.”
The ruling in these three cases is a first. More than 5,500 families are seeking compensation under the government’s Vaccine Injury Compensation program. They all believe that the vaccines given to their children in early infancy had caused them severe damage.
The ruling supports previous studies suggesting that there is no association between vaccines and autism. In fact, autism is still a disorder with unknown causes and therefore, unknown treatment, according to many scientists.
In a short statement given after the ruling, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it continues to support research “to better understand the cause of autistic disorders and develop more effective methods of treatment.” The health agency further said it hopes the ruling will “help reassure parents that vaccines do not cause autism.”
For fear that their children would be hurt, many families had denied vaccination. The authorities, on the other hand, say vaccination is important to prevent conditions that can be fatal to children. As a reminder that vaccination is still important, Minnesota had five new infections with Hib: Haemophilus Influenzae type B at the beginning of this year. Among them, three had not received vaccinations, including a seven-month old child who died. The other two cases involved a child who had been partially vaccinated while the other got all the vaccination doses but was affected due to immunodeficiency.
On the other hand, Autism Speaks, an advocacy group that finances research on autism, said the rulings “do not mitigate the need for further scientific investigation. We will continue to support authoritative research that addresses unanswered questions about whether certain subgroups of individuals with particular underlying medical or genetic conditions may be more vulnerable to adverse effects of vaccines,” a statement of the group read.
