We’ve all seen the commercials telling us how much more likely a child is to develop autism than to become a professional athlete or a singer. Today, one in 161 children develops autism, but do we ever wonder how a disease that was once as rare as one in 10,000 became so prevalent in the United States? Some might claim that genetics is the cause, but genetics is rarely a cause of an epidemic such as this. So what caused this huge growth in the number of autistic children in the U.S.?
No one can deny the vaccinations and immunizations have been a great way to protect people from dangerous diseases such as polio or the measles. Because of vaccinations, diseases that were once dreaded by the entire population are now barely ever contracted by anyone, but vaccinations may have a dark side. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, vaccinations were usually only given to upper and upper-middle classes, because they were the only ones who could afford them. Coincidentally, more cases of autism began to appear. These new cases were mainly confined to the upper and upper-middle classes. In the 1970’s and 1980’s the government improved vaccination rates to 97% of the population. Around this time, autism spread to more of the population… another coincidence? Soon after, the United States decided to administer vaccines to children shortly after their birth to better protect them. It was then reported by many parents that their children were developing normally during the first year and a half of their lifetime and then developing autistic symptoms. Studies have shown that a cause of this could be the high mercury content in shots such as Hepatitis B and MMR. The level of mercury in these vaccinations is more than enough to give an adult mercury poisoning, so who knows what effect this amount of mercury will do to and infant? It just so happens that the symptoms for mercury poisoning are almost identical with symptoms for autism. All of these studies begs the question, are vaccines hurting or helping?
http://www.know-vaccines.org/autism.html
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I agree with the skeptisim about the side effects of vaccinations. In terms of the flu shot, they say that about a rare 1% of recipients actually will show signs of the flu after the injection. Two people that I knew had it happen to them this year. I believe that with the intense demand for vaccinations at this time to protect themselves from H1N1 and such caused the makers to release some of the products too early and without enough testing. And as for vaccinations when it comes to autism, there has been a progression in the amount of people diagnosed. And there is a vast range of types on the autistic spectrum. So genetics may be a part of someone's likeliness to become autistic, but the numbers are just too high and too common that there has to be something else to it that is contributing. The people producing the vaccines should study this more before they are absolutely sure that what they are giving people is helping them and not harming them.
ReplyDeleteI think that the H1N1 strain has made such an uproar in the health care field that we are overdoing it. I think that people who have pre-existing medical conditions should be those who are vaccinated. I don't believe that any one in good health has anything to worry about as far as the H1N1 strain. Of course, you have to do your part in preventing it.. such as taking vitamins, eating healthy, washing hands, covering your mouth when cough or sneeze, getting enough sleep etc. There are preventative measures in place so that people don't get sick.
ReplyDeleteH1N1 is a strain of the typical flu. If someone has other medical conditions and flu season is coming around, then I believe that they should be priority for vaccinations. I don't believe that infants (who are always in the care of their parents) need it. I believe that if you take care of yourself, you won't get the flu. Vaccinations are risky, as much as health care professionals want you to believe they're good. There are risks and I don't think people are made enough aware of those risks beforehand. According to the news, it seems as though we are running out of this vaccination, which seems ridiculous. Also, public health departments do not know when the next batch of vaccinations will be available, which is more ridiculous (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/24/h1n1.vaccine.where/index.html?section=cnn_latest).
As far as the vaccinations causing autism, it doesn't surprise me. The doctors and pediatricians forget to make sure that these vaccinations and the ppatient receiving it are compatible. The genetics in a person may reject the vaccine, which causes other diseases.
I believe that people are freaking out way to much over the flu. If you take the preventative measures you will be fine. People need to understand that the flu is not deadly if you know what the symptoms are and get the proper care. As for vaccines, people have been getting them for ages, and just because some people see different side effects does not mean that everyone should not get them. I believe that if there is a way to prevent getting something then it is worth it, even if it comes with mild side effects. These effects are usually milder and do not last as long as if you were to get the actual flu. To say that autism is caused by vaccines seems a little much. I am sure that it could have some connection, however millions of people have gotten these vacancies and most are perfectly fine and have avoided getting such diseases as measles, polio, and mumps. However it is your choice if you want to get vaccinated or not for the flu, however you should certainly get all the facts before hand and know the potential side effects.
ReplyDeleteI have many friends whose parents dont believe in vaccinations and refuse to let their children get them, and they are as healthy as I am, who have gotten every vaccine. Even some health professionals don't agree with vaccines.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with vaccinations, but I think there should be more research done when they are given to individual people.. Especially if there is a case of autism in the famly. I think that just like some people are allergic to things, their body also may not agree with the vaccination.
As with the H1N1 vaccination, I think its a good idea for people at risk.. But not everyone who is just paranoid of getting swine. As said above, if you keep yourself healthy then you should be fine.. If not, then just take care of yourself if you do get the flu, and you'll be fine. I think that this vaccination is a good idea, but it is getting a little tooooo much.
My mother is a nurse and she has told me time and time again that there is no clinical studies that show that autism is related to vaccinations. People believe that, that is a theory, but there is no scientific evidence that this is true. People also state that autism occurs from having an epidural, but again, there is no scientific research that this is factual. I agree with what people having been saying about getting vaccinated for the flu, and being clean to stay healthy. There is no way that you can truly prevent yourself fully from getting the flu or H1N1. It's life, you can prevent everything in life now can you? So for those nervous about getting vaccinated, don't, but you should not be butting your head into other people's decisions on whether or not to get vaccinated. There is not enough evidence or proof to state that these diseases are coming from these vaccines.
ReplyDeleteMy parents do not believe in vaccinations and rarely allow my sister and I to get vaccinated. We have the basic vaccines needed to attend school but anything extra, such as the HPV shot, was always out of the question at my house. I was an exception to this rule as my health depended on another shot. I have severe asthma that is induced by two things: cold weather and cold/flu symptoms. Therefore, every year I am allowed to get the flu shot and only to prevent an asthma attack. My parents are always uncomfortable with me getting this shot but they realize that getting the flu shot will protect me from sickness.
ReplyDeleteI agree with my parents when they say vaccinations can sometimes lead to further illness rather than prevent it. In some cases under researched vaccines can be potentially dangerous if not all side effects are calculated. I feel that vaccines, while sometimes necessary, can be risky.
The rise of autism is bizarre and terrifying thing, and it's true that nobody can really satisfactorily explain it. It's at least partially explained by the simple fact that people didn't KNOW what it was, and therefore couldn't diagnose it even when it was present; part of the rise in autism diagnoses can be accounted for by the rise in autism knowledge. However, the increase seems to be too great to stem from that alone.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there is no hard evidence that points to a connection between autism and vaccinations. None. All the evidence is circumstantial: autism symptoms begin showing up at around the same time many children are vaccinated, and autism diagnoses went up during the same period vaccinations went up. Other things to go up during this time period: The number of nukes in the world, the popularity of rap, my own age, and the global temperature (though everyone knows that that last one was due to the reduction in the pirate population.) That graph illustrates the problem here: correlation does not imply causation. Just because one thing happens at the same time as another thing doesn't mean they have anything to do with each other. Many medical studies have been performed and nothing has ever been shown that would cause that effect.
Anti-vaccination sentiment is on the rise; in recent years it's gotten so bad that in some parts of the US the infection rates of diseases of measles and mumps have risen as high as they were before those vaccines were invented. This is despite the fact that any vaccine is proven safe over and over before it's ever given to a child. The arguments against vaccination simply don't hold up; their logic is flawed and their evidence is nonexistent. All they're doing is convincing impressionable parents not to protect their kids from dangerous diseases.
Like was said earlier there is no scientific research that proves there is any link between autism and vaccinations. It is a theory that has been made by people by looking at statistics. If someone doesn't believe in getting their child vaccinated then they don't have to, but they should be aware of the fact that they are leaving their child susceptible to a lot serious diseases. I personally think it is irresponsible not to vaccinate your children, because kids have less developed immune systems and are more likely to get sick even if you are taking good care of them and watching over them very intently. Ultimately the decision is up to the parents to decide what to believe.
ReplyDeleteI think that vaccines are important to maintain the health of all people. I am not ignorant to the fact that certain vaccinations are having negative affects on many people. I read an article once that a research center did studies that revealed negative affects of a certain vaccination and the drug company that produced that particular vaccination payed an enormous amount of money to hide the studies so that they would not lose their business. Vaccinations such as this should not be administered. While corruption in the medical world such as this does exist, that does not mean that all vaccinations are bad. Without them, so many diseases would be rampant across the nation. There may be a certain type of vaccine with levels of mercury that are much too high, but that is not to say that vaccinations are not a benefit to society. It may not be very well known that numerous young people who are too young to have been vaccinated contract diseases such as meningitis or measles from people who did not get vaccinated and picked up the disease while on vacation or in a foreign place. Vaccinations prevent deadly diseases from being spread and I believe they help society.
ReplyDeleteI really don't think that vaccines cause autism. The level of Mercury in a vaccine doesn't cause autism, they tell pregnant women not to eat fish because of the mercury because it can complicate giving birth. The case of vaccines giving autism is slowly being disregarded since the claim was made and this is because it also comes down to the type of parenting. the way you nurture your child. in the magazine JAAPA there are numerous articles on autism, some that point towards the mercury being a problem and many that strive away from that possibility. my personal belief is that it's not the vaccines, but its still unknown so who knows?
ReplyDeleteI agree that vaccinations are extremely important to maintain good health. However, more research needs to be done before they are released. The flu shot is a good example of how people can obtain the sickness after the shot, which defeats the whole purpose of getting the shot in the first place. Also, with the H1N1 shot, researchers seem to be rushing to get the shot out, but they may ignore some side effects in order to get it out quicker. It is definitely important to release this shot, which will save peoples lives, but they need to be extremely careful when testing the side effects. The last thing we want is for people to become sicker. We need to learn more about vaccinations before releasing them.
ReplyDeleteI do not completely agree that vaccinations are the cause of autism. The reason it is becoming more popular is because doctors did not even know what it was 50 years ago. We are learning more and more about the disease every single day, which is why the number of people who have it is growing. It is a relatively new disease, so people who didn't know what is was previously are being labeled as autistic. Vaccinations could be the cause of autism, but I believe it was a lack of knowledge on the disease.
It is very obvious that something is causing this high change in the rate of children with autism. Children are getting it much more often and teh cause is unknown. There can be many causes to this change. It might be the chemicals that are the put in the water that we drink, which are new. It could come from food allergies such as children that are allergic to wheat. Children with an immune deficiency or an atypical brain might also display symptoms of autism later in life. Many people hold very strong that vaccines can cause autism. The vaccine MMR, that prevents against mumps, measels, and rubella is the prime candidate for this debate. Although it is very possible that this vaccine could have contributed to high increase in autism patients, it has not been proved as an actual link. Since there can be so many different causes to this illness, it is not necessarily a good choice to not get your children vaccinated. Until it can be proven, vaccines are not the cause of this outbreak, despite the mercury that is in it. Mercury is also in our water, so it is hard to place the blame on vaccines that have helped society greatly. Without these vaccines, there would be diseases rampant everywhere. Just like all other diseases, there are things everywhere that can contribute to them happening to you. It is impossible to avoid.
ReplyDeleteIn response to babcockl's post, I would like to ask if you actually read the blog that I have written, or if you simply skimmed it and then acted like you understood what I was saying. In no way did I state that I thought that vaccinations were completely unhelpful. If you read the my second paragraph again (that is, if you actually read it the first time), you'll see that I said that no one can deny that vaccinations have been very helpful to society and have protected us from many diseases. As for "butting in" to other people's decisions? I simply wanted to point out that there MAY be a connection between autism and vaccines and I brought out some strange coincidences. I am a firm believer in vaccinations myself, and this information is not going to prevent me from getting them. My advice to you is: read before you write.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the responses to this post, I am a little bit confused, and I think that people viewed this post in the wrong way. A lot was mentioned about the H1N1 vaccine in the responses, but demarco's post said nothing about this vaccine. She never once mentioned the H1N1 shot, and although it was talked about because it is such a recent issue, the blog seemed to get very off topic in its responses. Everyone responded rather harshly to the ideas that demarco presented, but she was merely providing evidence to a piece of popular scientific theory. There are many studies that connect mercury in vaccines to the development of autism. While this is not a definite fact and only a correlation, there is definitely a connection that cannot be ignored. Until further evidence is proven, we cannot be sure, but I believe that this is definitely something to look into. The possible connection is there, and I think that some vaccines could be the cause of autism in children in recent generations. From my perspective, demarco was in no way trying to persuade people not to getting vaccines, especially the H1N1 shot. She was merely presenting an idea that is totally valid and reliable, and everyone should take an unbiased look at the facts given, whether you agreed with them or not.
ReplyDeleteI too felt thorougly confused after reading these responses. I thought I had missed something from the initial entry because of all this talk about h1n1. The h1n1 vaccine has not been shown to have any correlation with any disease or disorder and therefore is not related to this discussion on the autism and vaccine correlation.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I found an interesting article regarding this topic and it can be found at http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/12/autism.vaccines/index.html
This particular court case found that autism could not be proven to be caused by vaccines. However, the idea has not been dismissed either. What can be agreed on is that much more vigorous research needs to be done in regards to autism. No cause has really been determined.
It is generally accepted that it is caused by abnormalities in brain structure or function according to the Autism Society of America. I think everyone should just have a heads up that vaccines could be a possible cause of autism, and not immediately think that this hypothesis means that ALL vaccines are horrible and cause diseases, nor should you feel like getting the h1n1 vaccine will cause damage to your physical health. It is clear that more research needs to be done regarding autism, and that includes research regarding vaccines.
I agree with the skepticism, but completely disagree with the results. There is no direct correlation between the number of autism cases and kids being vaccinated. We cannot just stop vaccinating our kids, we can potentially eradicate disease by doing so. What should happen is that we wait to give children vaccinations, once they have developed somewhat. There are a few exceptions though, such as Tetanus and such. Those have to be administered at birth or you can risk the child receiving a condition called "lock neck" or even "lock jaw". Neither sound good do they? It really disappoints me when I hear a parent say that they are purposefully not vaccinating their kid; the child is definitely going to be worse off in the future without these vaccinations. Don't stop vaccinations, just wait for development.
ReplyDeleteI think that while autism is a horrible disease, the vaccinations should still continue. I would like to see another study into this topic because there could be other things that may not have been around back then that can contribute to autism. Vaccinations prevent the spread of deadly diseases and obviously protect those who get them from the disease itself. I think that the vaccines save more lives than they hurt. We are in the middle of flu season now and many people get their flu shots that save them from the disease and a lot of people are waiting for the swine flu to come out. Without these vaccinations many more people would get sick and the disease would keep spreading because there would be nothing to stop it. So, overall, I feel like vaccinations help more then they hurt and although there is a possibility that they could cause autism we still need to have them.
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, the media scares about H1N1 are egregious. They play on fear because fear brings more attention, and more attention gets higher ratings. There's no questioning that this flu, like those in the past, is being blown ridiculously out of proportion. People need to consider all sources of information in getting vaccinated. There's always a risk of side effects, no medication is a one-disease-one-cure panacea. That's just not how the chemistry works.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, the side effects are overwhelmingly less serious than they're always portrayed in the media. We wouldn't be given these shots if they were that serious. True, there have been flukes in the past, and there's always the possibility of side effects that remain to be seen, but the effects of NOT getting vaccinated clearly outweigh the potential negative side effects of getting the shot. Plain and simple, if we vaccinate, the pandemic disease is spread exponentially smaller (which will save that many more lives).
With that in mind, I still hold a skeptical eye to the claim that vaccinations create autism. The hard evidence and statistics are there, but it's just that, evidence, not conclusive proof. It could be any number of factors that is causing the outbreak of autism. And even if the vaccinations DO contribute to it, then we have to ask ourselves, "Is it worth the potential number of lives that were saved by being protected from disease?" My instinct tells me that it is, though we have no way of knowing for sure.
As a response to capuano's post, I do agree that there has been no direct correlation between vaccines and disease. Look at it a different way though. Who does the experiments on this correlation? Also look at who makes money off of vaccinations. Interesting. Also, a child would not be worse off without vaccinations. Eating healthy and taking care of yourself are sufficient for good health. I haven't had a vaccine since the age of five. I haven't had chicken pox or tetnus or meningitis. The only year I got the flu was the year I tried the flu shot. In my opinion, vaccines are overrated. I consider myself an exceptionally healthy person without many vaccines one "requires."
ReplyDeleteI find this study fascinating. It makes me wonder who actually discovered this correlation between the two. There is definately something that has caused an influx in the cases and this may be just a coincidence but its something that definately needs to be looked into.
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