OPINION: Vaccines, or other conspiracies, are not causing autism

Childhood vaccines are safe, effective and do not cause autism. I am shocked that these statements are at all controversial in 2025. The overwhelming evidence to support these claims has existed for decades. The reality that as physicians and public health advocates we are still in the position of having to both defend vaccines and refute erroneous mythologies leveled against them is preposterous. It benefits no one to spend our hard-earned tax dollars relitigating these claims.

Not only is it a waste of time and money, but it sows and waters the seeds of doubt which have been blooming in the digital landscape for years courtesy of misinformed influencers, podcasters and politicians. These groups are either ignorant and/or have ulterior motives. Fortunately, vaccine-preventable diseases are rare. However, as skepticism and distrust festers, we are certain to encounter more cases — see the ongoing measles outbreak in southern New Mexico.

I understand that after the abysmal way our state and federal government handled the Covid-19 pandemic, there exists distrust among health institutions. No one was more furious that children were forbidden to attend school than me. However, it should not follow that we must now “throw the baby out with the bathwater” and declare that all prior scientific and health advances need to be questioned. The scientific process is still valid and has resulted in miraculous progress in medicine. Childhood vaccines are just one glowing example.

Which brings us to topic #2: autism.

What is it? What causes it? Why has the incidence skyrocketed? Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — himself a vaccine skeptic — has pledged to find the cause for autism by September. What gives?

We can go directly to the DSM-5 for the diagnostic criteria for autism and as you’ll see, they are quite broad:

1. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction.

2. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities.

These symptoms must cause significant functional impairment and not be better explained by other disabilities or delays.

What’s immediately obvious is how wide a net these criteria cast. So wide in fact that one might be able to imagine at least one child in almost every preschool or grade school class could meet criteria for diagnosis. When we hear the new statistic that 1 in 37 kids is autistic, this is likely the explanation.

As a community pediatrician, I’ve observed a concerning trend. As a result of these new criteria, autism — a condition that used to be considered relatively uncommon, which caused severe functional impairment — has evolved into a fairly ubiquitous diagnosis given to many children who seem different and are often only slightly functionally impaired.

Yes, awareness has increased so that fewer children are falling through the cracks, but most significantly, the diagnostic criteria have changed in such a way that many children with typical behavioral and social quirks are being grouped into the autistic category. This trend has muddied the diagnostic and therapeutic waters and risks medicalizing children who are perhaps simply neurodivergent.

This is all to say, there is likely no vast conspiracy to be uncovered causing autism. It is not and never was vaccines. It is unlikely to be a food ingredient or pollutant. By all means, let’s clean up our food and environment. But let’s not throw resources into scrutinizing a proven safe and effective public health triumph. Moreover, let’s not use our stretched public health infrastructure trying to find an autism bogeyman that just does not exist.