Fact Check: NO Proof Pneumococcal Vaccine Causes Autism In Children

Does the pneumococcal vaccine cause autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children? No, that's not true: There is no scientific evidence to support the assertion that the pneumococcal vaccine or any other vaccine causes autism. The shots are recommended by both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization.

The claim appeared in a slide show on Instagram (archived here) on May 10, 2023, under the title "First, do no harm." The description for the post says:

Under reporting is a huge problem. The is risk, reactions are not rare, it's just that is isn't mainstream and physicians aren't trained to know what they look like outside of the obvious ones. This is why having all the facts BEFORE making a decision is crucial. You can ways do it later, but you can't take it back. The third slide clearly demonstrates as well that it can be just one 💉

This is what the post looked like on Instagram at the time of writing:

(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Fri May 12 15:41:04 2023 UTC)

Triplets

The fourth slide in the Instagram post lays out its case against the pneumococcal vaccine by suggesting a connection between the shot and the purported autism in these three children:

(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Fri May 12 18:34:33 2023 UTC)

The slide provides no proof of its claim that the triplets "regressed into autism the same day" and that the cause was a single dose of the pneumococcal vaccine. A Google News search by Lead Stories found no stories about the children under the names given in the post. However, a wider Google search found some stories circulating on anti-vaccine websites about the family named in the post, the McDowells, but primarily in videos on social media.

At least one video on YouTube that was associated with a GoFundMe campaign for the McDowell family was pulled from the platform for unclear reasons. The image from the GoFundMe site can be found below:

(Source: GoFundMe screenshot taken on Fri May 12 18:41:54 2023 UTC)

Autism Spectrum Disorder

ASD is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. There is "no single known cause," according to the Mayo Clinic. It does not list vaccines among the possible causes of ASD:

Given the complexity of the disorder, and the fact that symptoms and severity vary, there are probably m