Federal health officials confirmed their belief in the safety of childhood vaccines, in reaction to questions raised by a government settlement with the parents of a 9-year-old girl, who developed autism symptoms after receiving childhood shots.

The government agreed to pay the Poling family from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The issue started a debate over the link between autism and vaccines.

“We are very pleased with the government’s decision. It has been eight difficult and heartbreaking years since our daughter’s injury,” Hannah Poling’s father, Dr. Jon Poling, a neurologist in private practice in Athens, Georgia, told reporters Thursday, according to CNN.

Officials concluded that the vaccines had harmed the girl indeed, but only through worsening a medical condition that she already suffered of, an extremely rare mitochondrial disease.

"Nothing in any of this is going to change our recommendations for childhood immunizations," Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news conference, according to Reuters. "Our message to parents is that immunization is lifesaving. … This was a very special situation. "

CDC officials explained that mitochondrial disorders, which slow the cells’ process of producing energy, can be caused by various events, such as fevers or the types of infections against which vaccines protect children.

The little girl’s parents claim that Hannah received nine routinely administered childhood vaccines in July 2000. Shortly after the shots, she had fever, lost her appetite and stopped responding to verbal stimuli.

“Not only did she lose brain function, she lost her growth, she lost her ability to walk. She lost everything," Jon Poling said.