Are Vaccines Linked To Autism

Here’s All The Evidence That Proves Vaccines Cause Autism

It’s been nearly twenty years since medical researcher Andrew Wakefield destroyed his career by publishing a fraudulent research paper linking the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine to autism. The doctor’s claims have endangered children around the world and confused parents trying to make the right health choices for their children. To set the record straight, here’s all the evidence that proves vaccines cause autism.

In 1998, Wakefield wrote a paper claiming he had found a link between autism and gastrointestinal problems. The paper did not find a link between vaccines and autism, but in a subsequent press conference, Wakefield said he thought the MMR vaccines should be given individually, and not as a set. Wakefield worried that the MMR vaccine could hurt a child’s immune system and allow the measles virus to invade the intestines. Proteins that leak from the intestines could reach neurons in the brain, he wrote, affecting brain function.

Dozens of studies since have refuted Wakefield’s claims. One study, which examined close to 100,000 children. The study found absolutely no link between autism and the MMR vaccine.

Even as scientists denounced the paper, media interest in Wakefield’s study exploded and several journalists reported his theories as fact, failing to scrutinize the study or corroborate it with expert opinions.

So here it is: The actual truth.

Mmr Vaccine And Autism

Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 Lancet MMR autism fraud, characterised as “perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years”. The fraudulent research paper authored by Andrew Wakefield and published in The Lancet claimed to link the vaccine to colitis and autism spectrum disorders. The paper was retracted in 2010 but is still cited by anti-vaccinationists.

The claims in the paper were widely reported, leading to a sharp drop in vaccination rates in the UK and Ireland. Promotion of the claimed link, which continues in anti-vaccination propaganda despite being refuted, has led to an increase in the incidence of measles and mumps, resulting in deaths and serious permanent injuries. Following the initial claims in 1998, multiple large epidemiological studies were undertaken. Reviews of the evidence by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academy of Sciences, the UK National Health Service, and the Cochrane Library all found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Physicians, medical journals, and editors have described Wakefield’s actions as fraudulent and tied them to epidemics and deaths.

Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy In Autism Families

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Parental attitudes and decisions regarding MMR vaccination during an outbreak of measles among an undervaccinated Somali community in MinnesotaVaccineOctober 2020

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Myth #: Natural Immunity Is Better Than Vaccine

In some cases, natural immunity meaning actually catching a disease and getting sick results in a stronger immunity to the disease than a vaccination. However, the dangers of this approach far outweigh the relative benefits. If you wanted to gain immunity to measles, for example, by contracting the disease, you would face a 1 in 500 chance of death from your symptoms. In contrast, the number of people who have had severe allergic reactions from an MMR vaccine, is less than one-in-one million.

Professor Who Claims Vaccines Linked To Autism Funded Through University Portal

Chris Exley, who says aluminium in vaccines may cause autism, has raised more than £22,000

A British professor who has claimed that aluminium in vaccines is linked to autism has raised more than £22,000 to support his work through a Keele University online donations portal, the Guardian can reveal.

Prof Chris Exley angered health experts for claiming that tiny amounts of aluminium in inactivated vaccines, such as the HPV and whooping cough inoculations, may cause the more severe and disabling form of autism.

In 2017, the professor of bioinorganic chemistry published a paper on aluminium found in the brain tissue of five autistic patients that has been shared tens of thousands of times by vaccine skeptics online despite criticism from health experts over its lack of controls and small sample size.

The research was part-funded by a grant from the Childrens Medical Safety Research Institute, a US-based organisation that challenges vaccine safety.

A Freedom of Information Act request by the Guardian has found that Exley received £22,173.88 in donations since October 2015 to help support his work, ranging from £2 to £5,000. More than £11,000 of contributions were made between January and April 2019. The majority of donations are less than £100.

Exley told the Guardian: support basic running costs of my lab and are not associated with any specific project. This is the nature of a donation as compared to a grant.

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Evidence Shows Vaccines Unrelated To Autism

Claims that vaccines cause autism have led some parents to delay or refuse vaccines for their children. The most common claims are that autism is caused by measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, vaccines that contain thimerosal, or too many vaccines. Many studies have been done to test these claims. None has shown that vaccines cause autism. This sheet lays out the facts to help parents understand why experts do not think vaccines cause autism.

Myth #: Vaccines Can Infect My Child With The Disease It’s Trying To Prevent

Vaccines can cause mild symptoms resembling those of the disease they are protecting against. A common misconception is that these symptoms signal infection. In fact, in the small percentage where symptoms do occur, the vaccine recipients are experiencing a body’s immune response to the vaccine, not the disease itself. There is only one recorded instance in which a vaccine was shown to cause disease. This was the Oral Polio Vaccine which is no longer used in the U.S. Since then, vaccines have been in safe use for decades and follow strict Food and Drug Administration regulations.

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Mercury In Vaccines As A Cause Of Autism And Autism Spectrum Disorders : A Failed Hypothesis

Mercury. It sounds very, very scary, particularly when you learn it was in some vaccines in the form of thimerosal. Fortunately, science tells us that thimerosal does not cause autism or neurologic injury, contrary to what antivaccinationists tell us.

Thimerosal, the molecule that doesnt cause autism.

zeitgeistEvidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical ControversyRolling StoneDeadly Immunity

Why indeed? The use of this precautionary measure, which to health officials seemed prudent at that time, as justification for attacking the safety of vaccines is as good an example of how no good deed goes unpunished as Ive ever seen. Many parents, faced with the enormous challenge of raising autistic children, not unreasonably wondered whether there was something wrong with vaccines in the first place.

Noting that, with the exception of studies conducted by a single pair of authors , all studies done have thus far failed to find a link between TCVs and autism, Fombonne continues:

He then postulates an explanation that I happen to agree with:

REFERENCES:

Where Can I Learn More About Autism And Vaccines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , The American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Food and Drug Administration all have information on their websites detailing vaccine use and the risk of autism spectrum disorder .

Always ask any questions you may have of your pediatrician or other health care provider, too they will have the latest updates.

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Autisms Genetic Risk Factors

Research tells us that autism tends to run in families. Changes in certain genes increase the risk that a child will develop autism. If a parent carries one or more of these gene changes, they may get passed to a child . Other times, these genetic changes arise spontaneously in an early embryo or the sperm and/or egg that combine to create the embryo. Again, the majority of these gene changes do not cause autism by themselves. They simply increase risk for the disorder

What Exactly Is Autism Or Asd

Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder , is a brain development disorder in children that leads to problems with communication, behavior, and social interaction. A child may not show signs until age 2 or 3, and symptoms may continue throughout the childs lifetime.

What exactly causes autism is not known, but most experts agree it is genetically linked. Researchers are also studying whether environmental factors such as viral infections, pregnancy complications, or air pollutants could increase the risk of autism.

ASD is 4 times more common in boys than girls about 1 out of every 54 children are diagnosed with this disorder, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control .

There is no known cure for autism, but children can learn new skills.

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Myth #: We Don’t Need To Vaccinate Because Infection Rates Are Already So Low In The United States

Thanks to “herd immunity,” so long as a large majority of people are immunized in any population, even the unimmunized minority will be protected. With so many people resistant, an infectious disease will never get a chance to establish itself and spread. This is important because there will always be a portion of the population infants, pregnant women, elderly, and those with weakened immune systems that can’t receive vaccines.

But if too many people don’t vaccinate themselves or their children, they contribute to a collective danger, opening up opportunities for viruses and bacteria to establish themselves and spread.

Not to mention, as the Centers for Disease Control warn, international travel is growing quickly, so even if a disease is not a threat in your country, it may be common elsewhere. If someone were to carry in a disease from abroad, an unvaccinated individual will be at far greater risk of getting sick if he or she is exposed.

Vaccines are one of the great pillars of modern medicine. Life used to be especially brutal for children before vaccines, with huge portions being felled by diseases like measles, smallpox, whooping cough, or rubella, to name just a few. Today these ailments can be completely prevented with a simple injection.

Disease Outbreaks And Deaths

Preventable disease outbreaks have caused deaths in the wake of the anti-vaccine movement. Anti-Vaccine Body Count lists the number of preventable deaths from June 2007-July 2015 to be 9028, and the number of preventable illnesses to be 152,763. A measles outbreak in Disneyland in California was blamed on the poor vaccination rates.

Unvaccinated children are not the only ones at risk. Parents’ decisions not to vaccinate endanger infants and young children who have not yet been fully vaccinated, immunocompromised people such as cancer patients who cannot be safely vaccinated, and the rare percentage of people for whom their vaccines did not take hold. The concept of herd immunity relies heavily on a high percentage of vaccinations in any given community.

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Vaccines Still Not Linked To Autism

Myths tend to be persistent and require periodic maintenance debunking. The anti-vaccine movement arguably can credit its recent increase in effect to successfully spreading fears that vaccines in general, and particularly either the MMR vaccine or the vaccine preservative thimerosal, are linked to autism. This claim was never based on legitimate science, and over the last 15 years has been overwhelmingly repudiated by multiple independent lines of scientific evidence.

It is easier to spread fears than it is to reassure anxious parents with abstract scientific data, but still we must try. It also seems that giving people information is not an effective way to change their opinions or their behavior. But at the very least I hope to better inform those who are already on board with the science-based approach, and perhaps we can reach the occasional person on the fence who is simply misinformed and open to changing their mind.

A new meta-analysis seems like a good opportunity to remind the public that vaccines are safe and effective, and that they are not linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. The study is: Vaccines are not associated with autism: An evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies, by Taylor, Swerdfeger and Eslick, is published in the journal Vaccine. They found:

Natural Immunity Won’t Protect Your Kids

Some anti-vaxxers think their kids are born equipped to fight these diseases. But in fact, 90 percent of vaccinated kids exposed to measles get infected. Vaccines were game changers. Generations ago, kids did not stand a fighting chance against illnesses like polio. Give your kids the tools they need to protect themselves.

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Vaccines Save You Money

Vaccines are an investment in your family’s health and financial future. Diseases like measles, mumps and rubella can take a steep financial toll on a family. A sick child can rack up significant medical bills, force parents to take time off work and pull kids from school.

The evidence is clear. There is no link between Autism and vaccines.

Could There Be A Link Between Autism Rates And Childhood Vaccinations

For years, the link between vaccines and autism has been debated and contested. Some medical professionals assert that correlation isnt the same as causation, especially for MMR shots.

But considering that current the US childhood immunization schedule calls for 28 injections with 11 different vaccines before the age of two, its still impossible to know conclusively exactly if and how childhood vaccination is associated with an increased risk for autism spectrum disorders.

Now, a new study published in the September 2009 issue of Annals of Epidemiology shows that giving Hepatitis B vaccine to newborn baby boys may triple the risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder.

To be sure, this doesnt imply that the Hepatitis B vaccine causes an autism spectrum disorder, per se. But this study may show a link to the rapid increase, and support a hypothesized causal association between the Hepatitis B vaccine and ASD, at least in boys.

With all the anxiety over the flu, the swine flu and other illnesses causing a national scare, its time we take a step back and thoughtfully evaluate the necessity of vaccines and their appropriateness for you and your family.By now, youve probably been urged by your employer and/or your childrens school to seek flu vaccinations this year.

Vaccinations, which used to be an optional, independent decision, now seem like mandatory precautions against disease.

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Study Shows Link Between Autism And Vaccines Using Cells Lines From Aborted Babies

A new study has been released that shows that increases in autism rates are linked to the introduction of vaccines manufactured using human fetal cell lines from aborted babies. While this has been theorized in the past, this connection has now been analyzed using worldwide data. Researchers have identified three specific change points in which the incidence of autism rose significantly in the U.S., as well as points in other countries. Each of these points corresponds to the times that a vaccine containing DNA from aborted babies was added to the recommended vaccine schedule.

The study was published in September in the Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology, and was designed to analyze whether or not the environmental factor of the fetal cells could be connected with the rise in autism. According to Health Impact News, they found that the two were directly related, and that there was no other factor that could account for the jump in autism rates. The study is the first of its kind to examine the relationship between autism and human cells from aborted babies in vaccines.

Earlier researchers theorized that the measles part of the MMR was what was dangerous. Later, mercury in vaccines became the focus of attention. However, the MMR doesn’t contain any mercury.

The researchers for the study state that “human fetal DNA fragments are inducers of autoimmune reactions, while both DNA fragments are know to potential genomic insertion and mutations.”

Lower Vaccination Rates Among Families Affected By Autism

Some 15 year ago, a small, now-discredited study sparked concerns about a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Since then, a large and growing body of research has continued to find no association. Still, the continuing uncertainty around what does cause autism has left some people worried. Such concerns likely explain why vaccination rates have dropped in families that have an older child with the disorder.

In the new study, MMR vaccination rates for children without an affected older siblings were 84 percent at 2 years and 92 percent by age 5 years. Vaccination rates for children with an older sibling affected by autism were significantly lower: 73 percent at 2 years and 86 percent at age 5 years.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Bryan King, director of the Seattle Childrens Autism Center, writes:

Taken together, some dozen studies have now shown that the age of onset of ASD does not differ between vaccinated and unvaccinated children, the severity or course of ASD does not differ between vaccinated and unvaccinated children, and now the risk of ASD recurrence in families does not differ between vaccinated and unvaccinated children.

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