According to an article in NPR, written by Jon Hamilton in March 2013, researchers have discovered that there is no correlation between vaccinations and developing autism spectrum disorder. Doctors did a study and looked at what they call antigens. Antigens are a substance in vaccines that causes the body to produce antibodies. They compared the vaccine history of 250 kids who have autism, and 750 kids who do not. For the study, the doctors looked at the children's medical records to see how many antigens each child received, and looked at whether or not that gave the child an increased risk of developing autism. These doctors then concluded that because children are exposed to antigens all the time in the form of viruses and bacteria, the antigens in vaccines have no correlation with developing autism.
For my second article, I looked at another vaccine that has been thought to increase the risk of developing autism; the MMR vaccine (Measles-Mumps-Rubella). This article was written by members of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Because this vaccine is given to children around the age of 12-15 months and the diagnosis of autism usually occurs between 15-18 months, it was thought that this particular vaccine had a negative effect. This article discusses however, in recent years the Institute of Medicine and the AAP have "organized several panels of independent scientists- all concluded that there is no association between MMR and autism."
Through reading these two articles, I don't think my point of view has changed from what it originally was. I think these article just reiterate my belief that vaccines don't cause autism. For my next post, I want to look at other possible vaccines that may cause autism. I also want to look at if there are any known contributors so far to why children are continuing to develop autism and if there is anything in a vaccine that may contribute to any of those factors. I also wonder if it's not the fear of vaccines that are causing autism, then why are more and more parents deciding not to vaccinate their children?
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Ashleigh,
ReplyDeleteI find think you picked an excellent topic to research. For your topic I think that looking at articles and studies about vaccines are going to be your best source for information. I know that they once thought vaccines and autism were linked. One question I have that you could add to your research is: what strain did the vaccines have that they may have changed over the pass ten years? Or if there have been any changes with how the vaccine is made?
It would be interesting to look up just to see if there are any changes.
Good luck to you on your research, I look forward to reading your final paper.
Melissa.
I think this is a great topic. I have a nurse friend who goes ballistic whenever someone talks about a link between vaccines and autism. She said that the only reason anyone even thinks there is a link is because of one poorly designed and fully discredited study. I believe it was even proven to be intentionally fabricated? In any case, it drives me nuts when people don't vaccinate their kids because of the media's misinterpretation of science. The threat of their kids dying or being permanently maimed because of known diseases in order to avoid a hypothetical one is just so irresponsible! Good luck with it, and I look forward to reading more of what you find.
ReplyDeleteHey Ashleigh. I have researched this a ton, and am a non-vaccinator. However, my reasons were less to do with autism and more to do with the chemicals inside of the vaccinations. There was recently a pertussis (whooping cough) outbreak in Seattle. Of the people who had gotten pertussis, most were vaccinated with the pertussis vaccine. So it really has to make us wonder - what's the point? I personally prefer the old fashioned method of chicken pox parties and taking my kids to the doctor IF they wind up having Polio or some other nasty disease. I've never thought the autism debate was a very credible one to bring into vaccination debates.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I did read a study that, while it agreed that vaccinations do now cause autism, it is possible that certain vaccinations will make the child's autistic symptoms come out sooner and more intensely than had he not received the vaccination.
So please correct me if Im wrong because I do not know much about vaccines. But when a child OR an adult gets a vaccines, they are relatively being injected with the disease or illness. They do this because the body needs to learn to fight of the illness or infection if it happens again. So if someone gets sick without the vaccine, they would still get sick with the vaccines? If that makes sense....if a child is already susceptible to Autism, and a vaccine makes the autism more pronounced, is that really that fault of the vaccine? The child is already and already has autism, period. So what else is in the vaccines that make individuals like "Green Mama" worry. As she stated, the chemicals, but there are chemicals in food, drinks, every day things that we dont question. So why are we questioning the vaccines when it is supposed to help most people, not all but most?!
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