Autism and Vaccines

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I understand the fear that some parents have of doing something that they think may cause harm to their child, and there are instances where a vaccination can cause harm, but by and large, vaccinations save more lives than end.

Due to the number of parents in my region who have decided not to vaccinate, we have had a measles outbreak and two pertussis outbreaks and a number of babies died from the pertussis outbreaks. It creates life threatening situations for those who cannot be vaccinated.

Personally, it makes me sick. I live with autism; about ten years ago, my husband got pertussis. One of these things has redeeming value, and it isn't the one that comes with a quart of pretty much straight codeine and a doctor's slip to miss work for three weeks.

At the same time, I will confess that I did forego vaccinating our middle daughter for a few years, and it was out of fear of autism. Why?? I didn't want her to experience the things I experience, to have to learn that she is less than human.

What a BS reason to flirt with pneumococcal meningitis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, mumps... But there it is.

I think there have been so many A$ PSAs about what a horror autism is (and so few about what a horror some of the scourges we vaccinate for, which First World people simply aren't familiar with any more) that people just don't realize what they're risking. They're not comparing autism to diphtheria and deciding diphtheria is better-- they can't. All diphtheria is to them is some disease people used to get back in the 1800s (if they know that much). They're comparing a demonized version of autism to nothing happening at all, and deciding nothing is better.

Yikes. Because nothing is exactly what a lot of families are going to end up with if we let these diseases come back. It's been a long time since kids in the developed world have had a 20% mortality rate before the age of 5, but it was that way once and it can be again.

It's a blanket statement. There are some kids who within hours of getting a vaccine have lost speech and started to become autistic. We are all different and even the same vaccine can have different preservatives. I don't think autism is one disorder caused by one thing. It is more likely several different ones. For some people it's possible vaccines cause it. Yet if they represent 10% of the autism population it will be unlikely that clinical trials on the whole population will be successful. That's why for some people bio med does wonders and for others it doesn't.

My daughter is 8, diagnosed with autism and will be entering the 5th grade this fall. At the time of the following story she was 8 and in the 4th grade.

Last fall there was a whooping cough outbreak at my daughter's school. She knew a few kids who caught it and was very worried about getting it. I explained that she likely wouldn't have to worry as she had been vaccinated and most likely the kids who had caught it weren't. I explained what a vaccine was and how it worked and how some illnesses that we are vaccinated again could kill people, particularly children and that back in the days before vaccinations droves of children died from diseases. She then asked why some of her classmates weren't vaccinated. I mean, pretty obvious question to ask. I thought about it for a moment and then I told her the hard truth: "Some people think that vaccines cause autism, so some parents choose to not vaccinate their kids because they're afraid of the vaccine."

Her reply: "So... their parents would rather their children get sick and possibly die than be like me."

My heart broke. Because she is 100% awesome and there isn't a single piece of her I don't love.

I worry about when my kid (now 9) starts to realize this himself. He knows that he is Autistic. As far as I know, he has no idea that there is this whole panic in a chunk of our population about Autism, and that a whole bunch of people are so fearful about their child being Autistic that they would not vaccinate (and risk death) even with no scientific evidence to support their claims. I am sure it will be very upsetting for him to realize this.

You can't really win. If parents are forced to raise a kid they truly don't want, resenting every second the abominable slavery that means to them, they'll make sure the child spends their whole short and miserable life regretting their unwelcome birth.

Yes but everything depends on the odds of getting it. If you don't vaccinate your child might get these diseases but it's highly unlikely because they are currently under control, whereas if you have a predisposition for autism the chances are much higher to get it after vaccine. Families with one child on the spectrum are much more likely to have another one on the spectrum. Also one reason I've stopped posting here because I feel that most people have either kids who are verbal and high functioning and don't see or understand others viewpoint. When you see what families go through where kids are suffering and can't express themselves you wouldn't feel so one sided. It's a debate for a reason one that I have with myself all the time because there is no clear answer.

So for example my dad has Parkinson's and we find that his heart medication is causing it and if he stops taking it he might die. That's analogous because there is no simple choice there. However he should believe that there is nothing wrong with Parkinson's? Granted it's very different Parkinson's is degenerative and autism is not. Yet both are neurological conditions that cause an individual to lose certain functions. Instead why not debate would you take a risk to be able to talk, to be able to have control of your senses and to have full control over your emotions and body movements. Yes for people on the high end of the spectrum (maybe myself?) it can seem to be a quirkiness or part of our personality but for others it can quite debilitating and maybe worth the risk? Maybe not.

Please stop spreading this anti-vax nonsense. Children are dying all over the place because of the resurgence of diseases thought to be mostly wiped out because of all the parents now not vaccinating their children. People like you and the ignorance you embrace are contributing to the deaths of real children. It's disgusting.

THERE IS A CLEAR ANSWER: VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM. FULL STOP.

Well: 1. If it has been verified that the heart medication causes the Parkinson's, then that is very different from the vaccine/Autism link debate, because there is no definitive evidence that there is a link at all. 2. If your father chooses to go off of the medication to stop the Parkinson's from progressing, that would be his own choice. It would not be a choice that somebody else made on his behalf that they would rather have him risk certain death than have Parkinson's. 3. Because there is no proof (and in fact it has been disproved) of a link between Autism and vaccines, the risk is not risking illness/ possible death over possible/probable Autism. The risk is risking illness/ possible death over a fear that is not based in reality. 4. My son is on "the high end of the spectrum," and, although he can "pass" for a little bit with people he does not know, it is not just a quirkiness. However, I am sure he would rather be alive than dead.

Also, Pertussis is all over NYC right now, see my earlier post. If I had not vaccinated my kids, they both would have gotten it because there was a kid who got it in my son's class a few years ago.

Pertussis (whooping cough) is a nasty disease, and quite preventable through vaccination.

I doubt it very much if people would like it if Diphtheria came back. It's worse than Pertussis. It can literally cause somebody to stop breathing because the disease causes a blocking membrane to be created in the throat. The pity: Diphtheria is quite preventable through vaccination.

I understand "low-functioning autism" quite well. I've known people who've had it. It's not good. I understand the viewpoint of parents with the kind of autism where kids have to wear helmets so they don't break their skulls.

Except for one little thing. Vaccines do not cause autism. They don't. TO me a person not vaccinating because they "believe" or ""have the opinion that" vaccines cause autism (because trust me, the science isn't on their side) is like a religious person choosing not to treat an illness or injury and opting instead to pray or do nothing because it's Gods will. It's voodoo mumbo jumbo.



Pertussis can easily kill infants and still does, they literally either suffocate or cough so hard they break ribs and cause internal damage. Most of those diseases that had the earlier vaccinations are those that are really nasty and either will kill children (small pox, measles) maim them (mumps- sterility) or both (hello polio). The more recent vaccinations are generally either non lethal (chicken pox) or have slow long lasting implications that weren't realized until recently (chicken pox, HPV). Things like the flu CAN be fatal, but if only small numbers of people get it they can be taken care of and generally with proper care, folks recover from the flu. However if every one gets it at once overwhelming hospitals and doctors? Dead kids.

PEople have become very very complacent. Most folks having children today are not one, but two generations removed from any major epidemic or illness. They seem to have literally no clue that we can have widespread death (of mostly children and old people) from diseases and the reason we vaccinate for certain ones is because of how deadly and nasty they were.

Even if they did cause autism (and it's clear that they don't), dying is 1000s of times worse than having autism so the choice would be simple.

I had a similar conversation about why some people chose not to vaccinate with my son when he was about the same age as your daughter, and he said exactly the same thing. And my heart broke too.

It hurts too much to read most of this.

Notice how long ago the OP quit posting.