Vaccines and Autism

Recently a an article has gone around the web indicating that Jenny McCarthy's son may not be autistic after all, and that her crusade against vaccines may have been a farce.  I also watched an episode of Law & Order:SVU in which an infant contracted measles from an unvaccinated child and died.  This has caught my attention and I have looked into what I can with my limited medical knowledge to form my thoughts on the subject.  I want to start off by saying that I am pro-vaccine.  I welcome any arguements that may be presented logically to help me understand the other side.

First I think I need to explain what I can about what autism is.  According to Autism Speaks, autism is a broad term for a group of complex disorders of brain development... characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetative behaviors.  Autism Speaks says that the development of autism, or autism spectrum disorder, have roots in early brain development but most normally emerge between 2 and 3 years old.  Causes of autism seem to be a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

I look at vaccinations like I do medications.  There are side effcts. Some medications cause drowsiness, itching, bladder issues.  Some cause suicidal tendencies and even death.  There is a risk putting anything into the body.  The MMR vaccine has been administered together since 1971.  The vaccine has been so effective in the US, that measles, mumps and ruebella have been considered eliminated in the US since 2000, though cases do tend to pop up among unvaccinated people.  MMR is considered endemic according the the CDC and WHO websites becuase vaccines are not available to people living in undeveloped countries as readily as in first world countries.  Why do I bring this up?  The MMR vaccine was thought to be the cause.  According to Duke Health, the MMR vaccine coincided with the rise of autism in Great Britain in the early nineties.  The MMR vaccine was first made mandatory in the UK in 1988.  It became a scapegoat.  Remember the MMR vaccine had been been made mandatory in the US in 1971.  No such correlation between the vaccine and autism occured in the US.  What is clear is that the number of measles outbreaks that have occured plus the number of deaths associated with measles has risen since people stopped using the vaccine.  Many reputable health organizations, doctor organizations, and medical research hospitals have said that they have found no link between autism and the MMR vaccine.

In regards to Jenny McCarthy, I do not agree with her and I think that she is a moron, however I think that she has helped bring a lot of attention to the autism cause and raise money for research.  I just hope that no deaths or outbreaks  have occured because people put their faith in the extensive medical knowledge of a celebrity as compared to true medical professionals and scientists.

If 100 out of 100 kids could be saved because of the MMR vaccine but one may get autism, I think it is worth the risk.  I am not trying to be insensitive but I think about the other side.  Infants can not get the MMR until they are 12-15 months old.  If a unvaccinated child who is old enough gets measles and passes it to an infant who dies, that is far worse.  I am not sure where the line between big brother and parental choice should be, but the infants parents did not have a choice at all.  Love me, hate me everyone is entitled to my opinion!