Medical Reporter Liz Szabo's Views on Vaccination vs. Autism

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.

Unfortunately, little progress has been made since then, as reports from 2015 show only 72.2 percent of U.S. children are fully vaccinated (KFF, 2017). Healthy People 2020 recommends a national goal of 80 percent to maintain herd immunity (Child Trends Databank, 2015). Despite the life-saving importance of immunization, these stagnant rates show that many mothers of U.S. children do not adhere to vaccination recommendations. These critics and skeptics of vaccines are a part of the anti-vaccination movement. Originating upon the discovery of the first vaccine in 1796, this movement has progressed for hundreds of years. Currently, through media and prominent anti-vax social figures, the public can easily be relayed messages of vaccine controversies rather than scientific facts. Falsehoods include perceived low risk of contracting vaccine-preventable diseases, “overloading” the child’s immune system, mercury in vaccines, reports of negative reactions after vaccination, and the infamously popular myth that vaccines cause autism (Mittenzwei, Morrison, & Williams,

For years there has been public controversies over the advancements in science and all of the health risks that have been around, but now the use of the media has certainly boosted the amount of confusion throughout the public. Frightening stories regarding the progressions of science have been appearing online and in print. One particular example of this issue was the MMR vaccine debate. The MMR vaccine is an immunization vaccine which fights against rubella, measles, and mumps. During the 1990’s the media played a huge role in the decisions parents made regarding whether or not they allowed their children to get vaccinated. The media portrayed the MMR vaccine as having a possible link between autism. Which left the public worried about the MMR vaccine and having conflicting views and feelings towards the safety of vaccinations. In the MMR vaccine debate scientist and the media played two different roles which helped citizens make decisions regarding vaccination.

The effect of having constant access to media is that consumers are overwhelmed with information, which come from sources of varying credibility. When consumers are inundated by omnipresent information, they are less likely to challenge the information that is presented. This is a particular importance when health is the topic addressed in the media, since health concerns well-being and life itself. This paper explores the seriousness of health matters being addressed in the media. Two print media articles are examined: Toronto Life’s, “Memoir: my life revolves around trying to get inside my autistic daughter’s head” (Jalfen, 2015, p.1) and The Globe and Mail’s “Rewired: Learning to tame a noisy brain. (Or, how you can use the power of neuroplasticity)” (MacWhirter, 2015, p.1). Both discuss, to differing extents, the health issue of autism. The models of writing which the authors use and the authors’ suggestions for maintaining good health are described. This forms the for this paper’s critical argument is made: the biomedical model is the safest way to inform readers of health

Although the negative claims behind anti-immunization stances are deceptive and discredited, some parents find it difficult to accept that vaccines are necessary and safe. Many of these reasons are due to personal or religious beliefs that have persuaded parents to bypass immunizations for their children. Consequently, health officials are seeing disquieting rises of diseases that are easily preventable. The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) has reported hundreds of measles cases in the United States in 2011, the largest number in 15 years (Ben-Joseph, Elana). Essentially, almost all of these cases were in individuals who had not received a vaccine shot. Also found in the article was that a great amount of the quarrel over the shots comes from a 1998 study that tried to connect autism to a type of vaccine that defends against measles. However, there has been no scientific evidence that a vaccine or a combination of any of the shots induces autism. Undoubtedly, the doctor that wrote the article, calling vaccines a “deliberate fraud” ,lost his license for not submitting any evidence of his claim and causing people to neglect shots for that year. Sadly, due to that article, 1 in 4 parents still believe that vaccines are

In this section, the “illusion of cause” is shown. The controversy over vaccines is brought up in this case. Some believe, like Jenny McCarthy, that vaccines cause autism in some cases. McCarthy believes that the reason her son is autistic is because of a vaccine. Ever since, Jenny has been actively speaking out against vaccines. In this situation, the chances of her being correct are very slim. This tragic event caused her to think that vaccines cause autism, and made her blind to all of the benefits. Although this is not true, people began to believe Jenny’s stance and support her. This single personal event affected the opinions of more people than scientific studies that proved the other

Jim Carry, Jenny McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy. What do all these celebrities have in common? All of them are anti-vaccine. The articles that I have found that relate to my field of study are “Immunizations: Victims of Their Own Success” by Tony Cappello and “Addressing the Anti- Vaccination Movement and the Roles of HCW” by S. Tafuri, MS Gallone, MG Cappelli, D. Martinelli, R Prato, et al. Both of these articles are trying to portray the importance of the importance of vaccines to everyone, ranging from parents all the way to health care workers.

Andrew Wakefield’s research and the movie “Vaxxed” has provoked skepticism about vaccines’ safety and generated a lack of vaccinated children. Wakefield has tried to spread false

In “vaccination isn’t a Matter of Private Choice” the author states their claim that individuals who don’t get vaccinated have the potential harm individuals who are unable to be vaccinated. Furthermore, this particular stakeholders belief is the “rise in outbreaks” would be “preventable through vaccinations,” but not all parties are able to be vaccinated due to medical issues (par.1). However, not everyone shares the same opinion, Jenny Mccarthy and her following believe the opposite. Mccarthy is a stakeholder who feels that vaccinations cause more harm than help, due to her child being autistic. She argues this by saying the vaccines given to her son caused his autism.

In addition, several celebrities make an appearance to illustrate their views on this matter. Celebrities such as former Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy and companion Jim Carrey as well as an appearance from a Redskins cheerleader Desiree Jennings, all who claim there is a connection between vaccines and neurological disorders. Though there is a vast amount of compelling data from both sides of the spectrum this issue has yet to be resolved because the situation is very complicated. Furthermore, the debate has escalated far beyond just the medical risks and benefits but now has an ideological principle regarding a parent’s decision and governmental confines. Scientist Hank Jennings says, “They still want it to be a choice. They don’t want it to be compulsory” (Palfreman, 2010). Additionally, despite the scientific fact that vaccines are safe, government rule regarding parental choice is another component increasing the fight against vaccines.

There has been much research and debate on whether vaccines cause autism, however, there is no evidence that Measles, Mumps, Rubella vaccination is associated to autism. Parental age and pregnancy complications have been the most studied risk factors for ASD especially low birth weight and prematurity. Three of five studies have found low birth weight to have a significant association with autism spectrum disorder. Mothers aged 35 years and older and fathers aged 40 to 49 years have also found significant associations with autism. Pregnancy complications have been found to be significantly associated with ASD according to a 2012 systematic review. Prenatal, perinatal, and neonatal overall health have been explored by many studies. A cohort

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,

The current issue I have selected to discuss is vaccinations. In particular, I will be addressing the anti-vaccination movement that has gained popularity in recent years and the contributing biases that influenced its emergence. One event stands out at as a major contributing factor to the growth of the anti-vaccination movement, the 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield that was published by the English medical journal, Lancet. This study claimed to show a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism. Even though it was just one small study, the media picked it up and it became hugely publicized.

the question posed by gastroenterologist and medical researcher Andrew Wakefield and is now used as a counter-argument by those who oppose vaccination. Autism is, “A developmental brain disorder known to impair social interactions and communication,” [28]. Andrew Wakefield originally proposed a link between the measles vaccine and autism in a study he conducted and published in 1997 in the Lancet, and as a result many were led to believe the so. Actress Jenny McCarthy believed strongly that vaccines were responsible for her son's autism, “the soul left his eyes” [11]. and many have pointed out that after the wide spread of vaccines the number of autism diagnoses has

Vaccines; a more than spectacular development of science which has prevented countless numbers of diseases by giving one’s body an immunity to a microorganism by stimulating the body’s immune system and giving it the ability to recognize the pathogen as it enters the body to be more easily and readily destroyed. Autism, on the other hand, has not yet been fully linked back to a specific cause or reason. Because of this uncertainty, disgruntled parents have chosen to believe ideas with no scientific backing behind them besides what discredited scientist Wakefield said in a paper linking the MMR vaccine to autism along with some celebrities following Jenny McCarthy’s Anti-Vaccination Movement.