We can thank Andrew Wakefield for the hysteria we see going around about vaccinating your children. If you don't know that name, Andrew Wakefield published falseresearch in The Lancet about vaccinations causing autism in 1997. Wakefield presented fabricated research that the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine causes autism. According to the US National Library of Medicine, it is also known that, "Wakefield had been funded by lawyers who had been engaged by parents in lawsuits against vaccine-producing companies." Because financial interests were concealed and there was no "causal link" between this vaccine and autism, this research has been discredited, and Wakefield has since lost his medical license. �

Furthermore, recent research shows evidence that, while we do not know the cause of autism, it may develop in utero before the baby is even born. This would mean that autism develops before the baby ever receives vaccines. The reason people believe autism is caused by the MMR vaccine is because symptoms of autism typically begin to show around twelve to eighteen months, and a child receives their first MMR shot around twelve to fifteen months. This recent research that Public Health refers to would suggest that autism develops before birth, but symptoms do not show until sometime after birth. This would mean that there is no relation between the time frame that a child receives their first MMR shot and when symptoms of autism begin to show.

Although the research determining whether autism develops before birth is not yet completed, the research blaming the MMR vaccine for autism has been discredited and is no longer a reliable source.

The fact is, not vaccinating your children puts them at risk. The "but, it's my child," argument becomes null and void when you take into account that not vaccinating your child puts everyone else's children that come in contact with yours in danger. Not only are your children and other children at risk, but so are any people with low immune systems, such as the elderly and terminally ill patients, or people who cannot receive vaccines due to health reasons. Vaccines prevent deadly diseases -- diseases that previously wiped out countless numbers of people. There are so many diseases that no longer exist because of vaccines. Vaccines are the solution, not the problem.

Au�tism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects the lives of those with ASD and of the loved ones of someone with ASD. As someone who has a family member with autism and who has seen the impact autism has on everyone involved, I sympathize with anyone dealing with this disorder. This article was not intended to criticize the disorder. My intentions were solely to highlight the falsity of the MMR debacle and to stress the importance of vaccinating your children.

Vaccinate your children!