11/22/2025
Start Line Families,
A message about the recent announcement by the CDC and the changes on the CDC website as it relates to vaccines and Autism.
At Start Line Pediatrics, we agree with our colleagues at the American Academy of Pediatrics and many other medical organizations that numerous scientific studies from across the world over the past 25 years have not shown any link between vaccines and Autism. Potential links between vaccines and autism have been studied for decades. More than 40 high-quality studies in seven countries involving over 5.6 million people have found no connection.
We believe in the safety of vaccines and importance of protecting children from dangerous vaccine preventable diseases. We advocate for continued immunization of all children according to the current immunization schedule. We are concerned that the recent announcement by the CDC and the changes on the CDC website will create unnecessary fear for families who are making these important decisions for their children. 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.
Scientists believe there is no single root cause of autism. Interactions between genetic changes and environmental influences likely play a role. Improved awareness and screening and updated diagnostic criteria have contributed to increases in autism prevalence.
Here is a link to a list of reliable and trustworthy websites from The Evidence Collective (TEC) which is a group of health and science communicators who unite to deliver clear, evidence-based information directly on social platforms and physical communities, meeting people where they are with empathy and speed.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14eE9AoiQf3W1lGV3t0DxVXN08w8v2IYP_BiX2vN0mJY/edit?usp=drivesdk
You'll find links to:
American Academy of Pediatrics
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Healthy Children (AAP resource for parents)
CHOP vaccine education center
Center for infectious disease research and policy
World Health Organization
Voices for Vaccines (resources)
Hopefully this message alleviates any concerns or fears these recent announcements have created.
All of us at Start Line Pediatrics
Your Starter Guide to Trustworthy Science Online Some reliable voices & helpful sharing habits It’s hard to know what online sources are trustworthy, so we pulled together a number of accounts that focus on evidence-based information. Some of these accounts can be found on social media, such as I....
