Immunization against infectious disease has probably saved more lives
than any other public health intervention. Before we had childhood immunization,
many thousands of children died of now-preventable disease. Others suffered
permanent injury and/or brain damage. Although other factors were important,
it would not have been possible to eradicate smallpox without vaccination;
the eradication of wild polio from the western hemisphere is largely due
to immunizations; and the immense reductions in childhood meningitis, diphtheria,
whooping cough, rubella and measles are also evidence of the value of
immunizations.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the successes of the immunizations
program in the U.S. a vocal minority of parents has cast doubt on
the wisdom of having their children immunized. An increase in the number
of reported cases of autism is currently fueling a grass-roots movement of
parents determined to expose what they believe is a connection between
autism
and the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine, particularly with the measles,
mumps and rubella vaccine.
Linked through Internet chat rooms and Web sites, parents of kids
with this condition are drawing media attention to what they believe is a
real crisis in our national vaccination policy. While the reports used to
support this position are without scientific evidence, there has been a drop
in parental acceptance of the MMR vaccine in this country and abroad. Not
only does this place their own children at risk, but if a significant number
of children remain unimmunized it poses a risk to the general population.
Autism
is a developmental disability that profoundly affects communication and social
skills, impairing a child's ability to play, speak and relate to the world.
The condition can be first recognized in infancy as impaired attachment -
the child is not cuddly and avoids eye contact with his or her parents. It is
most often first diagnosed in toddlers, usually boys, from 18 to 30 months
of age, when parents seek medical attention because their child is having
difficulty speaking. Since the MMR vaccine is first given to children at
12 to 15 months of age, the vaccine has been at the focal point of parental
concern.
Researchers have evidence that the brains of autistic children are
different - in structure, blood flow, even cell function. This difference
so affects the brain's wiring that children with autism can't make sense
of life's ordinary events; Simple sound, sight and touch can be overwhelmingly
difficult to understand. The lack of data to support a connection between
vaccines and
autism
makes sense given the increasing body of information concerning when the
neurobiological differences associated with autism first occur. The preponderance
of evidence tells us that autism happens to our children before birth, not
after and long before a child begins his or her immunization series.
Whenever vaccines are administered, there is always the risk that
coincidental illnesses, medical conditions that are known to appear at various
ages, are falsely attributed to the immunization. Many parents trace their
children's first signs of a medical problem to a moment shortly after their
toddler reacted to a vaccine. When these families can find no other cause
for a medical condition, they reason that it must have been the vaccination
that produced the problem.
This seems to be the case with this controversy.
Autism
became linked to the MMR vaccine when a British researcher in 1998 reported
on 12 autistic children with intestinal problems. He speculated that the
vaccine may have caused bowel problems which led to a decrease absorption
of essential vitamins and nutrients which in turn resulted in developmental
disorders such as autism. Even though no scientific analysis was reported
in the study to substantiate the author's hypothesis, the story was picked
up by the media and received worldwide attention.
Unfortunately, studies that have refuted this article received little
if any media coverage. A recent article in the same medical journal, Lancet,
reported that cases of autism began increasing in England before the use
of the MMR vaccine and that the incidence of autism was the same among vaccinated
and unvaccinated children. The authors of that study even went so far as
to end their report with the hope that these findings " . . . will reassure
parents and others who have been concerned about the possibility that MMR
vaccine is likely to cause autism and that they will help restore confidence
in MMR vaccine." Unfortunately, this scientifically sound study received
little media and public attention.
Ironically, given the alarm generated by all the publicity, there are some people who believe that the MMR vaccine has already saved some children from autism.
The congenital rubella syndrome, which strikes the unborn child when his or her
mother contracts a case of German measles, is a suspected cause of autism. In
other words, one cause of autism has been virtually wiped
out——thanks to the MMR vaccine!
A lot of information about vaccinations is available to parents.
We believe that this is good, because parents should have all the facts they
need to make informed decisions about their child's vaccinations. However,
information is sometimes published that is inaccurate, misleading or based
on research that has not been confirmed by more scientific studies. The
overwhelming weight of existing scientific data indicates that there is no
link between the administration of the MMR vaccine and the development of
autism.
Furthermore, parents should always consult with their child's health care
provider for medical information rather than depending on often sensational
and one-sided media stories.
It is equally important that we protest sensational and unproven
reports about adverse effects of vaccines, and that we fight to maintain
and improve the level of immunization among our children, so that we consistently
achieve community immunity.
Why should our children receive immunizations? The real question is,
why would we deny our children society's greatest health care achievement?
Parents won't, as long as we have all the facts.
See also: Bad information can be deadly
