Are Amish children healthier because they’re unvaccinated?

Vaccine injury lawyer Aaron Siri claims Amish children do not get vaccines and are much healthier than other children, 2 in 5 of whom have a long-term health problem.

• Many Amish families vaccinate their children, and Amish children can have autism.
• Studies find no link between vaccines and autism or other health problems.
• Vaccinated children gain protection from serious diseases.

The claim that Amish people do not vaccinate is not true. Amish communities are not all the same. Each family makes its own healthcare choices. Vaccination rates are often lower in Amish communities, but they are not zero. In one Ohio study, 68% of Amish parents said all their children had received vaccines. Only 14% said their children had received no vaccines.

The claim that Amish children do not have autism is also false. One study screened children in an Amish community and found children with signs of autism. Autism may be harder to identify in some Amish communities. Families often value privacy, and autism screening and support services may be harder to find.

Researchers have also studied autism in children who have received no vaccines. They found no evidence that autism is more common in vaccinated children.

Large studies provide even more evidence. A Danish study followed more than 650,000 children for about 10 years. It found that the MMR vaccine did not raise the risk of autism. This was also true for children who had an autistic sibling. Other studies from Germany, the Philippines, and U.S. healthcare systems have compared vaccinated and unvaccinated children. These studies have not found that vaccines make children less healthy. The clearest difference is that vaccinated children are better protected from the diseases vaccines prevent.

Vaccines give the immune system a safe practice lesson. They contain antigens, which are harmless parts of or copies of germs that teach the body what to fight. Children meet thousands of antigens through the air, food, and things they touch. Vaccine antigens do not overload the immune system.

Studies have found no evidence that vaccines cause more allergies, autoimmune diseases, or developmental conditions. Vaccines do protect children from infections that can damage the lungs, harm the brain, or cause death.

The evidence is clear: Amish children can be vaccinated, and Amish children can have autism. Studies comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated children do not show that vaccines cause autism or make children less healthy. Vaccination protects children from serious diseases, while avoiding vaccines offers no proven health benefit.