Autism is a brain disorder that occurs in young children mainly from the age of two and which affects the child for the rest of his or her life. At birth, the child appears normal in all respects but as the child develops the parent starts to notice there is something abnormal with them. Some of the main symptoms of autism are inability of the child to speak at the right age, inability to form social connections, concentrating on certain activities and ignoring the others. Another major sign of an autistic child is they tend to do things in a repetitive pattern. For instance, they may be found arranging their toys in certain repetitive pattern. Which leads to the debate whether vaccines can cause autism in their child. This debate has caused a movement among some parents to not vaccinate their children. This ongoing movement has health officials worried about certain diseases coming back. Although there are various cases associating certain vaccines with autism, there are studies that have shown that vaccines do not cause autism. …show more content…
The article alleged the vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella could be the cause of autism. However, it was later established that Wakefield had manipulated the research to come up with a wrong conclusion. Consequently, his medical license was annulled in 2010. After Wakefield’s article, extensive research was carried out by medical researchers all over the world. None of them was able to even come close to the same findings as Wakefield. When the news of the alleged connection between vaccines and autism, many parents took them seriously and would not allow their children to be vaccinated. Which led to many children who were never vaccinated ended up ill and some even
Autism is not an immune-mediated disease. There is no evidence of immune activation or inflammatory lesions in people with autism. No studies have compared the incidence of autism in vaccinated, unvaccinated, or alternatively vaccinated children. Twenty epidemiologic studies have shown that neither thimerosal or MMR vaccine causes autism. There have been studies in many countries by different people who have tried multiple statistical methods. A meta-analysis of ten studies involving more than 1.2 million children reaffirms that vaccines don’t cause autism. Immunization was associated with decreased risk that children would develop autism, a possibility that’s strongest with the measles-mumps-rubella
In the article, “Vaccines Cause Autism,” Michael Snyder, an attorney and writer, attempts to convince parents of young children that autism is directly linked to childhood vaccinations. He claims that numerous toxins, including thimerosal, are present in vaccines that are forced into the bloodstream, later causing neurological and brain damage to children. He says that autism has risen by 78 percent over the past decade, and that 1/88 children in the US have an autistic disorder. Snyder believes that most autistic individuals start out completely normal, and that the vaccinations they are given are harming them. He blames the pharmaceutical companies for being too
Many parents are skeptical about getting their children vaccinated because of the fear that it may cause autism. The question of whether vaccines cause autism is still a controversial subject among many citizens today especially parents. Some citizens argue that vaccines are not safe and could potentially cause autism. Parents believe that vaccine caused their child to develop autism because autism symptoms become apparent around the same time that children were getting their routine vaccinations (WebMD). Many people believe that vaccines are completely safe and do not cause autism in fact some citizens argue that all children should be vaccinated to prevent sickness and serious diseases in fact there have been many studies conducted to prove that vaccines do not cause autism. Despite controversial claims, there is no scientific evidence that links vaccines to autism.
Imagine this, you have had your first child. You want to protect your child at all costs. Your child is young and innocent and you want them to be protected from all illnesses. The doctor asks if you want your child to be vaccinated. You do a search about the risks from getting vaccinated and you learn that it supposedly can cause autism. Even though you know that you want your child to live a healthy life Imagine this, you have had your first child. You want to protect your child at all costs. Your child is young and innocent and you want them to be protected from all illnesses. The doctor asks if you want your child to be vaccinated. You do a search about the risks from getting vaccinated and you learn that it supposedly can cause autism. Even though you know that you want your child to live a healthy life, you don’t want to possibly give them autism. The question still remains, do vaccines cause autism?
In order to investigate more about Wakefield’s study, Brian Deer, a journalist of British Medical Journal, carefully talked to the parents of all children who were participated in the study. Interestingly enough, he revealed the fraud behind Wakefield’s research. The Lancet, the journal that reported Wakefield’s study, retracted the paper soon afterwards (Deer). However, the real trouble still exists. Though it has been proved by many researchers that the MRR doesn’t cause autism, many people perceive the vaccine as a threat. Dr.Nemeroff once said “it is quite difficult to get the cognitive sewage out of the water even after the real sewage is gone” (Greene).
Andrew Wakefield is a former gastroenterologist and medical researcher who was discharged from his medical register in the UK, because of his dishonest research paper he released back in 1998, that analysed a possible link between measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and the presence of autism and bowel disease (Godlee, F., et al, 2011). Wakefield's research generated a substantial scare for the MMR vaccine and MMR vaccination rates began to drop because parents were concerned about the risk of autism after vaccination (DeStefano, F., Chen, R.T., 1999). After the paper was published by the Lancet medical newspaper, other reviews were trying to repeat Wakefield's conclusions,
This led to the support of various unproven vaccine-autism theories by parents in both the UK and America. After findings of intestinal disease in children with autism, Wakefield claimed that separating the MMR into three different vaccinations would be safer. Since then, Wakefield’s research has been discredited, he was charged with serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council for violating several ethical practices, and he was investigated for failing to disclose conflict of interest – a pending patent on a rival measles vaccine (Gross, 2009). Although false, many still believe wholeheartedly that vaccines are harmful.
Do vaccines cause autism is a question that has been bouncing around for over twenty years. The increase in the number of diagnosed cases of Autism Spectrum Disorder has increased significantly and due to the impact this has in people’s lives several studies have been done in an effort to determine the cause. More specifically the MMR, Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, vaccination has been accused of being the cause of autism. This accusation then contributed to families not vaccinating their children. Even though science disproves the link between vaccines and autism in several studies done in the United Kingdom, California, and Canada, many people cling to the vaccination-autism connection (Gerber, 2009).
Autism is being linked to early vaccinations to illnesses, and by doing so may cause children as their body is developing serious complications. Though the topic is still up to debate there have been numerous accounts of children obtaining autistic effects shorty after being immunized from illnesses such as the meals, mumps, and chicken pox. One such account Came Parsippany New Jersey, the parents of a 15 month year old toddler had just been to the clinic to vaccinate their child against the illness of the measles. Following the weeks after the child though fine before the vaccination in the year of 1986 started to show signs of different behavior and was having trouble communicating, by 1989 three years after his treatment he was diagnosed with autism. Now this may be just another short story to stop vaccinations but it’s backed by many of the same cases. Where autism comes from is unknown and many believe it to be a genetic defect
One such factor helping to manifest these large-scale epidemics is a study from 1998 by Andrew Wakefield, which claimed that there was a direct link between autism and the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine (Smith 1). As a result, many parents refused to vaccinate their children out of fear, and vaccine-preventable diseases like measles began reappearing more in both America and Britain, the place where Wakefield conducted his study (Cohen 2). Although a later investigation by the British Medical Journal discovered that Wakefield had distorted or altered the medical records of all twelve of the study’s participants and that he had been paid $674,000 USD by lawyers attempting to sue vaccine manufacturers, the atmosphere of apprehension surrounding vaccines is still strong among many individuals, and especially parents (Cohen 1-2). But despite all the controversy and the scientifically unsupported arguments of anti-vaccine sympathizers,
People have been conducting a lot of research to determine if vaccinations cause autism. Vaccinations are used to prevent illnesses. Autism is a disorder that is presented in early childhood and it is characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people. There are ingredients in the vaccines that could be harmful in high doses. Vaccinations can cause many side effects but they don’t cause autism.
Live Science Contributor, Stephanie Pappas tell us that, “Wakefield was getting money from lawyers planning on suing vaccine makers, and he owned a patent on an alternative to the MMR (measles) vaccines,” [2] this statement is clear evidence of fraudulent activity and proves that Wakefield had corrupt reasons for undergoing this study in the first place. The second flaw to Wakefield's paper was the questionable practises of his study, for starters he based his study on twelve children that he “cherry picked,” and “although the paper claimed that cognitive problems developed a few days after the MMR vaccine, a simple investigation of hospital records revealed that wasnt so; and in several cases parents reported problems before the vaccine,” [2]. In summary, the investigation was sloppy and provided no tangible evidence that links autism to the MMR vaccine. Furthermore, it should be noted that the the link between autism and vaccines is purely coincidental, the symptoms of autism typically appear at around the age that vaccines are administered, in fact director of the Vaccine Education Centre at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr Paul Offit confirms this says, “Children get their first dose of the MMR vaccine at 12 to 15 months, the age at which autism symptoms typically
Although it is 2017, a lot of controversies lurk around the term; Autism, in so far as it remains to be mystifying while we are advancing and improving the quality of life on nearly a daily basis. Furthermore, its linkage to vaccination continues to be the source of parental outcries among different cultures and populations.
The authors in this article answered the question about “if vaccines cause autism”. They did several research experiments to disprove the work of Andrew Wakefield, Neal Halsey and Jenny McCarthy. Those three all posted “scientific” studies about drugs that cause autism. Due to the overwhelming publishing of their articles by mass media, most parents believed it. People stopped vaccinating their children and many diseases had outbreaks
In 1998, a weekly medical journal, the Lancet, published a paper about vaccinations. In this paper, it stated that there was a link between the Measles, Mumps and Rubella Vaccine (MMR) and autism. Written by a British surgeon, Andrew Wakefield, this article claimed that vaccines increased the risks of British children developing autism. Later, media has contributed further to this misconception by making false claims and stories. In 2009, this paper was proved to be fraudulent, as no clear connections have been made due to serious procedural errors and lack of genuine statistical information; however, many people still continue to believe this myth. Wakefield lost his license to practice medicine. Scientists and medical professionals have also dismissed the theories surrounding vaccines and diabetes and SUDI due to the lack of valid