Vaccination and Autism: Evidence and Vaccine Compliance in Australia

Introduction: Australian Government health sites state that there is no link between vaccination and autism. These claims influence public health policy surrounding vaccination in Australia. Method: An examination of four Australian and one American Government sites was undertaken to identify original research articles examining the link between vaccination and autism. Claims concerning vaccination and autism are found to be based primarily on 23 original research articles. An analysis of relevant articles was made to see if a comparison between fully vaccinated (V) and completely unvaccinated (CUV) children was undertaken. Results: It is shown that none of the articles identified undertook a substantive comparison between V and CUV children. They do show that there is no significant difference in rates of autism in differently vaccinated groups of children, but without a comparison of V and CUV children they cannot make any final conclusions about a link between autism and vaccination. Discussion: To assess whether appropriate research can be undertaken to further examine any possible association between vaccination and autism, the numbers of unvaccinated children in ageappropriate cohorts in Australia are estimated. Sufficient numbers are found to permit statistically significant findings to be made. Further, it is shown that using a retrospective cohort based analysis of children at primary school will remove ethical issues relating to the denial of vaccination. Conclusion: It is concluded that the research identified will assist efforts to maximise vaccination compliance as well as better inform the Australia Government concerning public policy surrounding vaccination as well as the need for a vaccine damage compensation scheme.