Vaccines don’t cause autism, now what?
Gabrielle Moore | Feb 11, 2010 | Comments 1
If you’ve ever heard someone say they don’t want to vaccinate their child, it may have stemmed from a 1998 study published in Lancet that linked vaccine
s with autism. This opened up a scary choice for parents: get my child vaccinated and subject them to autism, or refrain from the vaccines but risk other diseases? According to the study, the combined vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella was shown to be unsafe, and possibly cause autism in children who had received it.
Last week, Lancet retracted this study, reporting that after a long series of scientific reevaluations, no link had been found between the vaccine and autism. But now that this link has been scientifically disproven, what will happen to everyone that believed it? The parents who are strongly convinced a vaccine caused their child’s autism are now back at the beginning, with no real knowledge about why autism happens. There’s never been a definite answer to what causes autism, and some parents jumped on the vaccine theory passionately, and even after this study has been retracted, will surely remain convinced that a vaccine caused their child’s autism.
Autism is a frustrating disease, and there isn’t much known about it. I have a cousin just a couple years younger than me with autism, and though growing up with him was sometimes confusing, I never really understood much about his condition. Now, he’s a senior in high school and just got accepted to Purdue. His mom recently wrote a book about her struggles with raising him, and after reading it, it was really enlightening to see just how much happened in his life that I wasn’t aware of. All cases of autism are different, and it was interesting to read from a mother’s perspective as she narrated all the difficulties she went through. However, even after all she went through raising an autistic son, she never assumed vaccines were to blame, and I never thought the study had much credibility.
But raising a child with autism is a scary thing, and some people have become so convinced that vaccines are the cause that they haven’t vaccinated their children and have widely encouraged others not to. Especially now that this myth has been debunked, it is important that people realize that vaccinating their children is necessary, and that the benefits outweigh any risks. Because of this one false study that linked vaccinations to autism, people have begun to have many unfounded fears about vaccines, and this could be detrimental to American health. Some diseases, like measles, have been almost wiped out by vaccines, but could be reintroduced if people stopped getting the vaccines.
Not much is known about autism, but we’re learning more every day, and announcements like this one retracting the Lancet study are a good step forward. I think people need to stop pointing blame and panicking, and working towards a real solution for autism, and a real way to prevent it. Not vaccinating kids is only hurting them, and potentially other people.
Learn more about autism, research efforts at the Autism Society of America website.
Filed Under: Awareness
About the Author: Gabrielle Moore is a Michigan State University journalism student. She's still trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up, but she harbors a passion for telling moving and meaningful stories, and appreciates the power of storytelling to influence the world. An animal lover since she can remember, she volunteers at her local animal shelter and is involved with Michigan's Children, pushing for legislative support and funding for children's programs across the state.
Here’s something to ponder: Amanda Baggs, the woman who many think suffers from Dissociative Personality Disorder, really has something even more interesting, which is psychogenic autism, possibly one of her personalities. It is also possible this is a factitious disorder, as she is reported to have ’studied” other severely autistic cases in order to adopt mannerisms…Very interesting case. You Tube video: “autism epidemic out of control” and “autism spectrum seems out of control” go into this subject a tad…this is definately something on the horizon. A new phenomenon, sparked by the autism explosion and creating mass hyteria and psychogenic factors within unstable minds to adopt such a diagnosis, as they feel this will bring them attention and nurturing they so deeply need, due to often traumatic upbringings (ie…Donna Williams, a most interesting case as well). The trouble is, when these psychogenic autism cases are featured on CNN (as in case of amanda baags) then you have a case of avoidance, where the media that once promoted or featured such a person, is now unwilling to realize or accept that this was all a fraud, or fabrication of such. This is not helpful for neither the patient or the community at large. Shame on the American Psychiatric Ass. for not having the intelligence or courage to expose these autism frauds. And double shame to Pres. Obama for his absolute failure to understand autism by appointing Ari. Neeman in any type of autism position. Where have all the courageous critical thinkers gone? Psychiatry is losing all respect and being attacked at all levels due to their internal dissassociation from confrontation. Deal with controversy. It’s part of life. It’s part of maintaining the core traits of diagnostic criteria.