A Government Call for Vaccine Research

Jon Poling, left, and Terry Poling with their 9-year-old daughter Hannah Poling are shown. In a move autism advocates call unprecedented, federal health officials have agreed that childhood vaccines contributed to an autistic Georgia girl's symptoms. While government officials continue to maintain that vaccines don't cause autism, advocates say the recent settlement of the girl's case in a secretive federal vaccine court show otherwise. The language in the settlement, however, is not clear cut. Federal officials conceded that five vaccines the girl received in July 2000 "significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder" which resulted in "regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder. (John Spink/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP)