Difference between revisions of "Vaccines and autism"

Revision as of 05:59, January 11, 2022

Some people believe that vaccines, particularly the "MMR" (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine, cause autism. Serious medical research studies do not support this.

One proposed causal link arises from the very high rate of autism in New Jersey. According to a 2018 report associated with USA Today, that state has the highest rate of autism in the United States.^[1] However, its vaccination rate is among the lowest: According to a 2017 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, New Jersey's rate of MMR vaccination in children was 89%; only four states (Washington, Colorado, Utah, and Indiana) had lower rates.^[2] Another report, from the Center for Disease Control in 2019, shows New Jersey about at the median.^[3]

Speculation on the possible correlation between the MMR vaccine and autism seems to have been largely triggered by the work of Dr. Andrew Wakefield. This research has been discredited,^[4] in large part because of fraud in selecting test subject (his study only consisted of 12 children) and reporting the results, and because he was a paid consultant to attorneys representing parents who believed their children had been harmed by vaccines. It should also be noted that Dr. Wakefield was attempting to create a competing vaccine at the time, which could explain his allegations.^[5]

Since the late 1980s, when Big Pharma received special liability protection for vaccination, the number of vaccines given to young children has more than tripled, coinciding with a sharp rise in autism and other health problems.^[6]

Mechanisms for a causal link between vaccination and autism have been proposed by researchers, including Dr. Andrew Wakefield. But with billions of dollars at stake based on vaccine mandates, retaliation is swift and severe against anyone who admits the possibility that vaccination may cause autism, or indeed cause any harm at all. Also, there may be atheistic motivations for liberal denial about causes of autism, which is an impediment one's ability to read the Bible and strengthen one's faith.

The CDC reports that autism continues to increase, up 30% in merely the last half-decade, to where it afflicts 1 in 68 today. There are significant differences in autism rates among states.

The liberal media is overwhelmingly pro-mandatory vaccine, and tends to marginalize opposition as somehow being irrational:^[7] "American skepticism toward vaccinations dates back at least to the Revolutionary War, when George Washington was initially reluctant to inoculate his troops against smallpox."

See also

• Atheism and autism

References