Parents Speak Out on Vaccine Settlement

(From Associated Press) The parents of a 9-year-old girl who received a government settlement from a federal vaccine compensation fund today held a press conference where they described how their daughter began exhibiting odd-behavior after she got several childhood shots. The Polings say five simultaneous vaccinations that their daughter Hannah received when she was 18 months old led to autistic behaviors. The government has agreed to pay the Polings from a federal fund that compensates people injured by vaccines. U.S. officials reject the idea that the vaccines cause autism, but they say that in this case the shots worsened an underlying disorder that led to autism-like symptoms. U.S. health officials have consistently maintained that vaccines are safe, and a lawyer representing them said this week that there was no change in that position.

Read the full AP story here. http://www.autismspeaks.org/inthenews/parents_speak_out_vaccine_case.php

Read a statement and q&a from Autism Speaks Chief Science Officer Geri Dawson here:  http://www.autismspeaks.org/dawson_statement_vaccine_case.php