Vaccines Causing Autism For years there has been a debate as to if vaccines cause autism. There are people who claim their child has become autistic after being vaccinated. For example, Jenny McCarthy is a well-known case. She claims her son became autistic after being vaccinated, says he has seizures and developed symptoms of autism, she quote on quote said: “ if you ask a parent of an autistic child if they want the measles or the autism, we will stand in line for the measles.” Although people believe that it is safer to not get their child vaccinated, that 's not technically true. Studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing ASD. An infamous 1998 medical journal report by a man named Andrew Wakefield who was a doctor that has research on international concern over whether or not vaccines cause autism. His research was based off of bad science, but on a deliberate fraud, according to Dr. Fiona Goldee, the editor and chief of a British Medical Journal. Wakefield was found guilty by a British panel of acting unethically in the research he had on autism. Andrew wakefield was the lead author for this research, published in The Lancet, and it suggested their were links between vaccines and the onset of childhood autism. The study was then immediately forcibly grasp by anti-vaccination advocates, which includes Jenny McCarthy. Dr. Goldee said the British Medical Journal and an investigator named Brian Deer uncovered the truth and found
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
Many people who belong with the anti-vaccine movement are individuals who blame MMR (mumps-measles-rubella) vaccine for autism. It has now been found through several studies, that vaccines do not cause autism (Taylor, 2006). “In 2011 the vaccine-autism connection was described as “the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years”
In many cases, parents aren’t noticing the early symptoms of ASD in their infants, and so they conclude that the vaccine is the cause. I believe that choosing to have your child vaccinations should not be a choice; it should be required. By vaccinating a child, we are protecting them from numerous diseases that have proven to be fatal. Even if you are still not completely convinced there is no correlation between the two, understand that the positives of these vaccines still outweigh the slim possibility of a child becoming autistic from a
Although there is no scientific proof that vaccines cause autism, proponents still believe that they do. The theory that vaccines cause autism were based on unproven facts and falsified information (DeStefano 81). In an article called CNS Drugs, the author writes about how a man named AJ Wakefield stun the public with a theory that the MMR vaccine may cause autism and how enterocolitis (bowel dysfunction) and MMR vaccine may be linked to autism (DeStefano 831). Even though Wakefield falsified information and his theories were proven to be discredited many people still
One of the most controversial stories in today’s medicine is between autism and vaccinations. Autism is a disorder that makes it difficult for people to communicate with others and form relationships with them. It has been thought that vaccinations that children receive at an early age cause autism. Autism has become more prevalent over the years and scientists are still unsure how the disorder has come about. Some parents have taken it upon themselves to not vaccinate their children because they believe it will cause their child to become autistic. The real question is do vaccines really cause autism and if so which vaccine is it?
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.
Today, parents are not vaccinating their children for a number of reasons, whether it is religious beliefs, it is not natural, and some parents are even trying to link vaccinations to the rise in autism. This however has been proven false and stated in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The increase in vaccinations and the increase in children with autism happened at the same time, which leads some parents to believe that is why their child was diagnosed with autism, but this is correlation not causation. There is no real scientific test to diagnose autism and it is based off of the child’s social and communication skills and their behavior. A retrospective study was done from 1980 to 1994 where scientist recorded the amount of children receiving the measles vaccination and the amount of children diagnosed with autism. Over this time span, there was only a 10% increase in the amount of children receiving the MMR vaccine and 572% increase in children with autism. If the MMR vaccine was the cause of autism, then they should have increased at the same rate and therefore concluding that autism is caused by other unknown factors.
Currently there are a great number of misconceptions out in the public view. This all-lead back to the Wakefield study that has since partially retracted in 2004 and then completely in 2010 or websites that continues to expound on this faulty study. In 2004, investigation into the validity of Wakefield’s study and 10 of the 12 contributors had pulled their support for the document. This had severely called into question the research and results that the study had used. In 2010 they had completely redacted the study as it had been found that data had been skewed as well as unnecessary testing had been performed on children, which had caused them distress. There is no definitive link between autism and vaccinations, specifically the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination.
Vaccines are a controversial topic in the twenty-first century. Infections, diseases, and viruses have many questions surrounding them, but nobody really knows the cause for some disorders, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). So, people blame vaccines for causing a disorder in their child, which has caused some parents to opt out of vaccinating their child. I do not agree with letting my child roam the world with no protection against deadly illnesses. I would definitely vaccinate my child.
For several years there has actually been a debate concerning the connection of autism and vaccines especially the mmr injection. Lots of moms and dads think about that the suggested inoculation timetable for the mmr injection is not secure, which a few of its parts are harmful that source
If parents do not vaccinate their children, the kids are exposed to many diseases like mumps, measles, chicken pox, and even polio. Whenever a parent who makes sure her children are vaccinated sees another parent ranting on how vaccines gave their child autism, of course it is natural for that other parent to start getting a little fearful of vaccinations. Then eventually they will decide to not give the kids vaccinations anymore. Not only are the parents that go on about how vaccines cause autism are basing their theory on something that they have no real evidence over, they are also tricking other parents into thinking that they are right. Moreover, it has been proven that autism is caused by “genetic factors like mutations, deletions, and copy number variants” (Landrigan). Autism is essentially a brain disorder, and there are mutations in the brain that messes with the behavioral part of the brain. While doctors can’t screen a child to see if they are autistic, the child’s behavior lets the doctor know if they are autistic. While some people might argue and say since the doctor can’t tell if a child is autistic or not by screening them, then it is possible that the chemical thimerosal that is used to preserve vaccines from contamination can cause autism. However, this is an unbacked claim. There is essentially no evidence that can prove that thimerosal-containing vaccines causes autism. This is proven in the Michelle Cedillo case of 1997. A
Any medicine that is put into your body will contain side effects. Every time you go to the pharmacy and get medicine, it will include those side effects on the label that may or may not happen to you just like the vaccines. This could be over the counter drugs or it could be a prescription drug prescribed by a doctor. Either way, we are aware of these side effects. This might be why people think vaccines will give their child autism. Autism is a birth defect that affects a child socially and mentally. These birth defects will affect their everyday life. Autism has in no way been linked to vaccinations. But yet, people still choose to believe that it can harm their child in that way. (Atkinson). Although many people argue that these vaccines can cause autism, many doctors have assumed that this cannot possibly be true. It is not found that there is any correlation between the two. It would be extremely unfortunate to get vaccinated to not catch a disease and to end up with a disability for a lifetime. Doctors at the Institute of Medicine went into this. They all agreed that this theory was not true. (Maron) With this, we see that they assure us that vaccines are not causing
Many parents refuse to vaccinate their children because they believe the myth that vaccines lead to autism. Most anti-vaccination parents rely on information from a 1998 British study where the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine was
One reason that is resurging in the media is the notion that vaccines can be linked to autism. In the middle is the result: cases of measles, mumps and rubella are occurring and populations of children are at risk to contract these preventable viruses. It is therefore important to examine whether vaccinations are indeed safe, if such vaccines pose adverse health risks, and exactly what the nature of reasons are as to why some children do not receive their immunizations. Much of the controversy initially arose out of a study published originally in 1998.
Chief Science Officer at Autism Speaks Rob Ring, states, “The results of this research are clear: Vaccines do not cause autism. We urge that all children be fully vaccinated.”