Your Parents' Big Mistake: Refusing Vaccines to Prevent Autism
Posted by Mona Lisa Vito at 6/17/2009 11:22 AM 
Categories: Drugs,health issues
Tags: health crisis autism fda life threatening complications
Categories: Drugs,health issues
Tags: health crisis autism fda life threatening complications
After seeing that episode of Private Practice this year where the mother of an autistic child refuses to vaccinate her other son, resulting in his death by whooping cough, I started looking thinking about the vaccine-autism debate. That is, the idea that vaccinations given in quick succession in early childhood disrupt a baby's development and lead to regression into autism. The way that celebrities like Jenny McCarthy talk about this causal relationship, you'd think dozens of definitive studies had proven it. The fact is no causal relationship between vaccines and autism has ever been proven or even researched. Where these celebrities got this idea in their head is beyond me. These people spread false accusations about the danger of vaccines, and they accuse pediatricians of being in cahoots with the vaccine manufacturers. Pediatricians do not accept large grants or small gifts in exchange for support of vaccines. It's false to claim that they make big profits from the sale of vaccines and that they would continue to give vaccines even if they were sown to be dangerous. The fact that these myths have resulted in many parents refusing vaccines for their children is totally ridiculous! When a considerable percent of the population is unvaccinated, the total population loses "herd immunity - protection of the group as a result of there being only a small number of susceptible individuals." In some West cost states, there are areas where 20-35% of children are unvaccinated because of parent refusal. This trend is insanity! If vaccine refusals continue to rise, we will soon see thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths from preventable diseases. Some states like West Virginia have it right, and have passed "no exception" legislation, requiring every child to be vaccinated for public health reasons, regardless of parental refusal. This is the kind of law that needs to pass in every state to prevent a pandemic of preventable diseases like smallpox and causing a public health crisis even bigger than swine flu.
I think all children need to be vaccinated. Not only will you be harming your child and making them more susceptible to illnesses and viruses but you are putting other children in harm's way as well!!!
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I don't know RK. Autism is as much a public health issue as is mumps or measles. If there's a possibility that my child could get this totally debilitating affliction from a vaccine then I don't want them vaccinated. Autism is a life-long handicap that a child can never recover from.
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That baby in the picture looks really friggin uncomfortable.
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I thinks its wrong to force parents to give their kids vaccinations. Even though vaccines are supposed to help kids from getting sick, they still put a foreign, unnatural substance in their bodies so its impossible to know all the effects a vaccine could have.
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I agree with you Ivette. I did some research on this topic and I found out that NONE of the 19 shots most American kids receive in their first 6 months has been studied with regard to its relationship to autism.
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The blog post does state that there is no causal relationship between vaccinations and autism and until one is found (if ever) then i say vaccinate away!
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There's further evidence out there that those studies that have been done which concluded there was no causal relationship were rife with conflicts of interest, including contributing authors who received funding from vaccine manufacturers. How can you say something isn't dangerous when there's a significant opinion that it could be? Would you also say "Injecting black printer ink into our kids could be harmful, but just go ahead and keep doing it until we do a long-term scientific study proving that it's harmful." That doesn't make any sense!
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noone said anything about injecting printer ink into our kids. that would be weird.
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Unless they wanted tatoos!
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I thought this issue was only dealing with vaccines given in quick succession, not vaccines in general. I think vaccines have proven to be effective
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Although, I believe whether or not you vaccinate your child should be a choice, I don't believe that Autism should weigh in on your decision. There has been no good scientific research done to conclude that there is any relationship between Autism and vaccines. This theory has been adopted by people observing the changes in our children's behavior over the years.
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