There has been a lot of debate in the recent years about whether or not vaccines cause Autism. The scientific community has put a lot of time and money towards research to prove the validity of the theory "vaccines cause Autism" and do you know what they found? They don't cause Autism. There is no scientific proof that vaccines cause Autism, and there is plenty of proof that they don't.
My goal in this article is to refute any false argument that vaccines play a role in causing Autism. Here are some of the most common arguments to prove vaccines cause Autism, and why they're not factually based.
1. Vaccines and Autism have both increased over the last century.
Yes, it's true that both the amount of vaccines administered and the number of children with autism have increased over the last century. However, this comes down to a few things. First, any student that has taken a statistics class could tell you that just because there is an appeared correlation between two variables (vaccines being administered, and the number of children diagnosed with Autism) does not indicate a cause and effect relationship. Looking at statistics cannot prove that one event caused the other.
That being said, there are very logical reasons why there is this correlation, and no, they have nothing to do with vaccines causing Autism. The reason that there has been an increase in vaccines is because of an increase in scientific research. Modern medicine has found more ways to fight and prevent illnesses that were fatal less than a century ago. There is also an increase in availability of these vaccines due to health care reforms, and vaccines have become mandatory in most states in order to register your child for school.
Do you think that 50 years ago people knew the indicating signs of a child with Autism? If doctors were barely educated on Autism, how would parents have been? If parents didn't know how to identify signs of Autism (when people didn't really know what it was), then they would be less likely to bring their child to the doctor, therefore being less likely to be diagnosed.
The key to all of this is that there has been an increase in DIAGNOSES of Autism, which does not mean that more people have Autism than in the past, but simply that more people are being diagnosed from a doctor, who better understands what it is.
2. It's safer not to vaccinate than to risk Autism.
This is just completely wrong, and frankly, parents who choose not to vaccinate their children are just putting other people at risk by spreading diseases. Due to the new trend of not vaccinating children, many fatal diseases that were almost extinct in the Western Hemisphere are now returning. According to the Center For Disease Control And Prevention, 5 vaccine-preventable diseases are reemerging due to people not being vaccinated. Some of these include measles, mumps, and polio.
People are putting others at risk because of a false theory. There have been reported cases of children, who were not yet old enough for vaccines, catching diseases from children whose parents chose not to vaccinate. For what? Because you heard that Jenny McCarthy told you not to vaccinate?
According to the Immunization Partnership, vaccines prevent more deaths each year than seat belts and child safety harnesses combined. The risk of a child being born with autism is lower than that of a child catching or spreading a fatal disease because of a lack of vaccines.
3. There was a study proving that vaccines cause Autism.
Anyone who actually does their research before forming an opinion would know that the study done by Andrew Wakefield, which claimed that vaccines cause Autism, was removed by the Institutional Review Board because it was revealed that his data was falsified, and there was no validity to the study. There was also a scandal surrounding the study-Wakefield had a financial obligation; he was funded by lawyers who's clients were parents that were ant-vaccines, which caused a huge bias in the study. Since then there have been thousands of studies proving the exact opposite, that there is no evidence that vaccines cause Autism.
No one in their right mind would try to argue that the falsified study was more factual than the thousands of real, approved studies.
4. My child developed symptoms of Autism shortly after being vaccinated.
Now, this is a big argument that is held by Jenny McCarthy in her arguments against vaccines. The fact of the matter is that it all comes down to timing. At what age do children begin to be vaccinated? Most children receive a majority of vaccines between birth and age two. At four months, most children have already received about thirteen vaccines. Parents claim they then suddenly start showing signs of Autism at around one year of age. Why could this be?
Well, what else happens around the age of one year? Babies start walking, talking, become more social (in an infant sort of way). Children could be born with Autism and parents and doctors wouldn't know because they haven't even developed the skills that people on the Autism spectrum lack. You can't tell a child has a lack of social skills, or a learning disability, or a speech delay unless they are old enough to talk, learn, and be social.
Because children have had many vaccines before the point that symptoms appear doesn't mean that it's because of the vaccines. The child could have had Autism the entire time, from birth, and no one would know until they reach the age where they're expected to act a certain way and they're not acting that way.
5. Jenny McCarthy has such a following, it has to be true.
Not everything you read or see in the media is true. Just because Jenny McCarthy swears that vaccines cause Autism doesn't mean you should believe her. Her evidence rests on 'motherly instincts' and 'natural healing' rather than data, evidence, and scientific research. The last time I checked, Jenny McCarthy does not have a medical degree.
6. Third World Countries without vaccines don't have many cases of Autism.
This ties back to point number one. Scientific research and modern medicine. Yes, third world countries may have less people diagnosed with Autism, and have less vaccines, but that is because most third world countries don't have the economy to support scientific research. Without the knowledge, money, and resources to diagnose Autism, there are going to be less reported cases. Again, it doesn't prove that vaccines are the problem.
7. If not vaccines, then what causes Autism?
Just because researchers have not solidified the cause of Autism does not mean that you have to believe that vaccines are it. Autism is a difficult disease to pin point because the symptoms are not apparent at birth, like other disorders, including Down Syndrome. There are plenty of theories as to the cause of Autism, including genetics and immune deficiency. Most of the current theories have much more evidence to back them up than vaccines.
