Autism, Vaccination Link? Maybe Not...

I was looking over the Kids and Parenting Section of MSNBC (like always) and the link to a video caught my eye. The video is entitled "Doctor Questions Autism, Vaccine Link" and I was interested because I had read a Newsweek article recently about Dr. Paul Offit and his campaign to educate people on the link between vaccinating your children and Autism which he says does not exist.

The Newsweek article is entitled Stomping Through A Medical Minefield. Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the nation's most outspoken advocate for childhood immunizations, is at the center of a white-hot medical controversy. He has also written a book called Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure.

So, how do you determine what to believe when it comes to science? My daughter does not have Autism, but I want to understand more about it and since I am an engineer, the science behind it is intriguing to me. The video from MSNBC has Dr. Nancy Snyderman talking about Autism and the fact that there are 16 studies out there that have been done that could not find a link between vaccination and autism. Mat Lauer says at the end that it's a "controversial" subject and Nancy says it's absolutely NOT CONTROVERSIAL because there is no scientific link between vaccination and autism. Interested in seeing the video?



Like I said, I was interested in taking a look at some of the studies. And after reading the Amazon reviews of Dr. Offit's book, which sited two studies which found a link between vaccination and autism, I had a couple of questions. I found one of the studies. It was published in Spring 2006 and is entitled "Early Downward Trends in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Removal of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines" and was published in the Journal of the American Physicians and Surgeons. They took a look at data obtained from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), which is a cooperative program for vaccine safety of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). VAERS is a post-marketing safety surveillance program, collecting information about adverse events (possible side effects) that occur after the administration of US licensed vaccines.

From analyzing the data, they reported a decreasing trend in the number of autism cases in children after the removal of a mercury-based preservative called Thermisol from vaccinations in 2001. The study concludes that "The present controlled assessment of VAERS and CDDS databases shows that very specific Neurological Disorders (NDs) are associated with Thermisol Containing Vaccines (TCVs)." WOW! That's awesome, right?

Not so fast...I found an article on MSNBC entitled "Autism cases still on rise after vaccine change" that refutes the claims of that study. I know, it's a bit confusing. But, a study published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry in January of 2008 says something a little bit different. According to the article, Thimerosal Disappears but Autism Remains, they found the prevalence of autism in children aged 3 to 12 increased throughout the study period. For example, 0.3 per 1,000 children born in 1993 had autism at age 3 compared with 1.3 per 1,000 children born in 2003. Similar trends were found in other age groups.

You can see Dr. Offit talking about his book and his passionate belief that autism is NOT caused by vaccination in the video below.



So, what is a person to think? I, as a mother who does NOT have an autistic child, have to look at the science behind the debate and conclude that, since there has been no link found between vaccinations and autism, vaccinations do NOT in fact cause autism. However, I can see why so many people want so badly to believe that they do. They have children who are suffering from a neurological disorder and they want to be able to point to something and say "Look there! That's what's to blame for my child's autism!" despite the overwhelming proof against such a link.

I hope that one day they are able to find the cause for autism and subsequently a cure. What will people do if that "cure" is in the form of a vaccination? Are people going to be crying out against vaccinating children against autism like they are now for things like the HPV vaccine? Who knows?

All I know is that I am a mother who wants to make sure that my child is safe. And that safety includes vaccination against diseases that can kill her or cause her to be gravely ill. But, in the end it's for you to look at the evidence, come to a conclusion, and subsequently decide what is best for your children.

More Information:
Autism Speaks
Paul-Offit.com