N e w s   R e l e a s e

For Release:  April 4, 2000

Contacts:       Diana Madden, NNii  703/299-0430
                      Colleen Ryan, Porter Novelli  202/973-5800

Health Professionals Urge Parents, Policy-Makers
Not to Lose Sight of Immunization’s Successes
Evidence Disproving Link Between Vaccine and Autism 
Submitted to April 6 Congressional Hearing

As the U.S. prepares to commemorate National Infant Immunization Week (April 16-22), health professionals are urging parents and doctors to ensure that all children are protected by immunizations. The scientific evidence shows that immunizations are one of the most important things parents can do to protect their children from serious infectious diseases, according to the National Network for Immunization Information (NNii). 

Thanks to immunization, highly contagious illnesses such as measles and pertussis (whooping cough), which used to be a common part of childhood, are now relatively rare in this country. Only a decade ago, the U.S. experienced a decline in the use of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine which led to a tragic resurgence of measles—resulting in more than 55,000 cases and 125 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As a result of redoubled immunization efforts, only 86 cases of measles were reported in the U.S. last year.

Before the pertussis vaccine became available in the 1940s, the disease was a major cause of childhood deaths in the U.S., with more than 200,000 cases reported annually. Today, thanks to the vaccine, incidence has decreased by more than 98 percent, to an average of about 3,700 cases per year, according to the CDC. Among non-immunized children around the world, pertussis still remains a major threat—killing an estimated 300,000 children worldwide annually.

While it is true that no vaccine is 100 percent safe, overall, immunization has an outstanding safety record. Vaccines are extremely safe, and as a result of medical research and ongoing review by experts in infectious disease, they are getting safer and more effective all the time.

But despite immunization’s success and safety record, stories about real and perceived side effects of vaccines are causing some parents and policy-makers to question the country’s commitment to immunization. The House Government Reform Committee held a hearing on April 6 to examine increased rates of autism, including an unsubstantiated link between autism and vaccines, such as the MMR vaccine. Because autism is usually diagnosed in children when they are 18 to 30 months old, shortly after children receive many recommended immunizations, some parents may attribute the emerging symptoms of autism to the administration of a vaccine.  In fact, the best evidence demonstrates that autism results from complex genetic factors and therefore originates prior to birth, not afterward.