Do vaccines cause autism?
No — the evidence does not support this claim.
Vaccines cause autism.
What the evidence shows
Extensive, repeated research has found no link between vaccines and autism. The original 1998 study that proposed a connection was retracted by The Lancet, and its lead author lost his medical license. Large population studies across millions of children — including a 2019 Danish cohort of more than 650,000 — have consistently found that vaccinated and unvaccinated children develop autism at the same rates.
This summary describes a fact-check originally published by PolitiFact. FactGuard did not conduct this review; we summarize it and link to the original. Read the original fact-check by PolitiFact →
Sources
- PolitiFact
- The Lancet (retraction, 2010)
- Annals of Internal Medicine (Danish cohort study, 2019)
Published 2026-06-07 · Last reviewed 2026-06-07
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