After more than a year of emotionally charged testimonies, the US Court of Federal Claims has determined that routine childhood vaccination does not cause autism.  The ruling is the result of three test cases involving three families of autistic children, three theories linking autism and vaccination, and three federal judges.  Claimants in as many as 5,000 similar cases have awaited this ruling since hearings began in 2007.

The families were seeking financial compensation from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund, operated by the Department of Health and Human Services and created to offset medical expenses when a vaccine does harm a child.  While rare, vaccines can cause high fevers and seizures, among other symptoms.  The compensation fund is financed by a tax on vaccines.

Each of the three families presented evidence that their child’s autism was caused by either the mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, used in vaccines; the particular measles virus used in the measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine; or a combination of the two.

Special master of the court George L. Hastings, Jr., ruled against one of the families, saying expert witnesses presented by the federal government were “far better qualified, far more experienced and far more persuasive” than the expert witnesses provided by the plaintiff.  He went on to say the case was not a close one, with “overwhelmingly contrary” evidence presented by the government.  He suggested the family in his case might have been misled by doctors guilty of “gross medical misjudgment.”

The special masters presiding over the other two cases, Patricia Campbell-Smith and Denise Vowell, reached similar decisions.

The families’ lawyers vow to appeal.

Speaking on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Columbus, Ohio, pediatrician Dr. Michael T. Brady described the academy as “obviously very satisfied” with the courts’ rulings and expressed the hope that reluctant parents will now be more willing to vaccinate their children.

Generation Rescue founder, J. B. Handley, said the courts’ rulings are “not unexpected” but nevertheless “salt in the wounds” of the plaintiffs.  Generation Rescue supports the theory that vaccines do cause autism and has developed a strict children’s diet designed to remove mercury from the body after vaccination.

Language skills develop in children between the ages of one and three, the same time many childhood vaccinations or booster shots are recommended.  The term, autism, covers a wide spectrum of language-related symptoms and behaviors that often become apparent at this stage of childhood development too.

Some autistic children stop speaking entirely while others develop ritualized behaviors.  Others develop debilitating fears, exhibit violent outbursts, or any combination of these symptoms.  Just last month, Gertrude Steuernagel was beaten to death by her own severely autistic 18-year-old son.  Steuernagel is known for writing essays describing the difficulties associated with raising an autistic child.