Through our personal study we have found that researchers’ perspectives on the causes of autism are not linked to MMR vaccinations, which fight against measles, mumps, and rubella. Their perspective is backed by many current case studies and research. However, many parents with autistic children claim that vaccinations can be the cause of their child’s autism. They have seen first hand the behavior changes in their children, close to the times of their vaccinations.
Watch this video of a mother’s viewpoint on this issue
http://www.wral.com/news/political/video/4528997/
Here is an article on the researchers’ point of view
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090303396.html
Do you agree with current researchers’ perspectives indicating that vaccinations do not cause autism, or do you agree with some parents’ viewpoints that it does? What is your opinion? Why?
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I am a little bit confused when watching the video...I have watched it three times to see if it says anywhere how old her son was when he was vaccinated and it seems like he was 12 months old. If this is the case, then there could be so many other extraneous factors as to why behaviors that indicate autism began to arise. The most obvious is that this is an age where autism may usually be noticed. Maybe her son showed signs of autism simply because that was when the mother began to notice it.
ReplyDeleteIn answering the question of whether or not I agree with current researchers' perspectives, I have to say yes when considering the two sources provided. There really isn't anything to argue-the facts are there. It is great that people are trying to find answers, but saying that this one answer is the solution to all children with autism or all children in any circumstance sort of takes the validity out of the solution to begin with.
The research definitely indicates this as well-there were only 2 children that showed any traces of the measles in the biopsies and one of the children didn't even have autism. So out of the entire sample, only one could even begin to be described as having attained autism maybe in relation to being vaccinated.
I definately agree with the research-at least what I have seen-because it has been tested, documented, and reported whereas the parent just seemed angry and frustrated trying to hard to make a connection, trying so hard to blame someone. She mentioned something "being wrong" with her son and "it was like a death." For some reason that made me feel pretty sad. She just looked so angry and so ready to just be angry forever about the situation when her son looked so sweet. I hope that a solution is found someday, because I can understand how frustrating it could be to never know.
I do not believe that vaccinations are the cause for Autism. I think if Autism was a side effect of the vaccinations then wouldn't we all have Autism? I do know that each year more and more children are diagnosed with Autism. Is this just a result of more people being informed and able to diagnose it, or is it because Autism itself covers such a wide spectrum so more people are covered under the Autism umbrella?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I do not believe that immunizations cause autism. Scientifically and factually I can't justify a relationship between the two. I think that in a lot cases the onset of symptoms or signs of autism may occur around the same time as their yearly checkups and shots.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at this from a mothers perspective it is easy to understand why they are so upset. They believe that they have identified a cause, a source to blame for their child's difficult disability. I believe we cannot completely and utterly discount the feelings and beliefs of mothers. By nature their intuition is often correct. They know their children on a personal, everyday level as opposed to a case study or experiment. On the same note if ever a correlation is found between the preservatives in immunizations and the cause or onset of autism this may be in the long run a positive turn to find the cure.
Although I do not currently believe that immunizations cause autism I would not cut off this lead completely. Further research needs to be done.
I do not believe vaccinations are the cause of Autism and the evidence for this is biases since there is nothing to counter it. Since autism is so broad, I could believe perhaps a type of autism could be as a result of a vaccination or in combination with nature and nurture. However, I do not believe autism would be solely based on vaccination, I think it would be if the person who developed autism after the vaccination would have some pre-developing reason that would have been triggered by the vaccination.
ReplyDeleteI think more research needs to be done to show less bias of the presenter's opinion.
Just like Britany, the first thing that caught my attention from the video were the ages that the little boy received vaccinations and how the mother correlated that to seeing the first symptoms of autism. She said it was at 12 months and then again at 15 months.
ReplyDeleteI was curious when autism is usually diagnosed or when signs of the autism spectrum start to show up. In Medical News today they stated that, “Parents usually identify problems in their autistic children during the first year of life...” (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/44631.php)
Then I was curious as to when the MMR vaccine is given to children. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, there are two dosages given. One at 12-15 months and another after 28 days. (http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/downloads/child/2009/09_0-6yrs_schedule_bw.pdf)
Usually the second dose is given before kindergarten since they already have to go in for other vaccinations. This second one is given “...to provide another chance to develop measles immunity for persons who did not respond to the first dose.” (http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/combo-vaccines/mmr/faqs-mmr-hcp.htm)
Is it a coincidence that the mother noticed autistic behaviors show up at the same time that he received his MMR vaccination? I agree with Shelly and Autumn that we should keep our eyes open for more research. I, thus far, support the current research that shows no correlation between the two.
Obviously a mother who wants answers about her son would easily latch onto any answers as to why her son has autism, even if it was incorrect. Yet, I am not saying vaccines couldn't have a different effect on children with autism. That could be a possibility yet I do not agree that vaccines cause autism or increase the severity of autism. Still, each child is different and each reaction to a vaccination could vary.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with Autumn, more research should be done. Autism seems to have so many questions linked to it and the spectrum seems so wide that it is hard to pinpoint why it occurs.
Deep down, a part of me does wonder if vaccinations are safe for children. It would be interesting to know if there are some aspects of vaccinations that cause damage to young children. Although I am not a parent nor a doctor, one year seems like a young age to administer vaccines.
I agree with current researchers’ perspectives indicating that vaccinations do NOT cause autism. When watching the video posted, I sympathized for the mother. I personally feel that her opinion of her son getting autism from vaccinations could have been persuaded from society. She stated in her interview that, “Thousands upon thousands of us cannot be wrong” (http://www.wral.com/news/political/video/4528997/). A parent with a child that has a disability usually wants answers to why and how the child got that particular disability or disease. I think that since there is not yet that much information on how a person gets autism, people will try and think of ways to make themselves feel better. I am not saying that people are crazy and that they will make up an excuse for there child, but I am not ruling out the fact that people want answers.
ReplyDeleteMy number one question with all of this was at what age is a person usually diagnosed with autism? I found an article in the Deseret News paper that gave me more information on this topic. It stated that, “Many specialists say autism isn’t identifiable in most common children until at least 18 months of age, when the behaviors that are common hallmarks of the disorder are more apparent. While there are no statistics on average of diagnosis, many children aren’t diagnosed until age 3 or later” (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20050620/ai_n14674744/). Reading this, my mind goes back to the video that I watched. The mother said that her child had immunizations at 12 months. If she thought then that vaccinations were the cause of her son’s autism then she should have never gotten more vaccinations at 15 months. But she did. With reading the article I found in the Deseret News it seems to me that 15 months might even be too early to diagnose autism. But, I am not a doctor, and I think that the age one is diagnosed varies from child to child.
In all said and done, I feel that not getting your child vaccinated in fear that they might get autism is more harm than good. I found a recent article written in 2009 from Science Daily, and it stated that, “Fears about vaccines are pushing down immunization rates and having a real impact on public health, he added. Vaccine refusal is contributing to the current increase in Haemophilus influenza cases in Minnesota—including the death of one child—and was a factor in last year’s measles outbreak in California” (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090130093407.htm). Dr. Offit said, “Parents should realize that a choice not to get a vaccine is not a risk-free choice. It's just a choice to take a different, and far more serious, risk.” (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090130093407.htm). I just feel that not vaccinating your child due to fear that it causes autism when there is no real evidence to prove it is just harming everyone else. I think if you have a child with autism and you are concerned with what are the causes, then you need to ask your doctor. But people will believe what they want to believe and we all have our own opinions. My opinion is that Autism is not linked to vaccinations.
I do not believe vaccinations cause autism. In regards to the video of the very upset mother who is blaming the vaccination as the cause of her son's autism, I do not think that she is looking at every viewpoint. I think that her son was just showing more signs of autism and it just so happened to be around the time he was vaccinated. It was mere coincidence. I do not think there is any hard facts that say vaccinations are linked to autism, but in some cases for parents it puts the blame somewhere. It is easy for a parent to point blame at the vaccination as the cause of the autism because there is nothing else to blame. I think that we should all still vaccinate our kids for not only their own safety, but for the safety of others around them as well. Until there are actual facts that come out stating a link between vaccinations and autism, I do not believe that autism is caused by vaccinations.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most every one on the side of vaccinations not being the cause of autism. I believe that autism is hereditary or some how brought on by nature and nurturing. Since there is no hard evidence saying that vaccines cause autism we have to look at other possible contributors. Something I have noticed in my experience with children with autism is that the family has more than one person with autism in their immediate or extended family. I have worked with three different families who all have more than one child diagnosed with autism which leads me to think that it is not the vaccines but that the cause is somewhere at home or somewhere in the family line.
ReplyDeleteI believe that there is not sufficient proof to say that autism is caused by vaccinations. I agree with what others have said; I think that parents are simply searching for answers that explain why their child has autism. There is no evidence that demonstrates that vaccines are the cause of autism. Usually children are getting vaccinated around the age that autism begins to be recognized by physicians. I believe that the connection is simply coincidence. I do, however, sympathize with the parents; I think that I would be searching for answers if I was in their situation. This might be something that can be proven in the future, but at this point I think that there is not enough evidence to say that vaccinations cause autism.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the researcher's point of view that vaccines cannot conclusively be linked to causing autism. While there are a lot of parents that believe vaccinations are the reason their child now has autism, and while there are certainly many unanswered questions concerning the effects vaccinations may have on children, there is no way to unequivocally prove that the vaccines are what is actually causing the autism. You also have to take into account the numerous children whose autism is apparently not linked to vaccinations at all. However, I do not believe that we can simply rule out the vaccinations altogether. There certainly needs to be a lot more research conducted before conclusions can be made. As the mother on the video says, the hundreds of parents who believe vaccinations are to blame cannot just be ignored. I think that although there is more evidence supporting the view that vaccines do not cause autism, it is not viable or safe to rule out the idea completely until more conclusive and concrete scientific evidence is revealed.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that the vaccinations cause autism because there are simply too many external factors such as time of vaccination. Perhaps, some kinds of Autism may be influenced by it, but you cannot find a cause and effect relationship in this study.
ReplyDeleteThe original study was done with a very small portion of the population. Only 12 children were studied. Statistically speaking this is not a significant enough number to show causation. But I agree that there may be some different affects to vaccinations depending on the individual. I agree with the others who say that it should be more fully tested. But I also believe that more people are aware of Autism now than ever before, so they are more inclined to notice problems. This may be one reason for an increase in the diagnosis of autism cases.
I tend to side with the researchers on this topic. They have been studying it out and trying to figure out the cause of Autism and if these vaccinations can cause Autism and have not found that it does. The mothers in thses cases have very biased opinions and just want answers as to why their children have autism. For a mother, just having an answer and someone to blame is desired. I also believe that parents can be blinded or guarded when it comes to their children and their behavior. In my opinion it is possible that someone pointed out certain behaviors to this particular mother and she began noticing a "change" or just recognizing the differences. The statistics and evidence side with the researchers, that Vaccinations do not give children Autism.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that autism is caused by vaccinations. While the mother in the video seemed persistent in her views, she had little support for her case. I can't help but think of the discussions we've had in classes regarding the flaws inherent in indirect assessment. The mother definitely displays some bias towards her son and it is very possible that her memory of bringing her child home from the hospital is inaccurate. We have also discussed in 420 that many parents have difficulty believing that their child has real disabilities. It is easy to see how blaming her son's disabilities might make it easier for Michelle to cope with the fact that her son possesses autism and perhaps give her some hope that he will someday be cured.
ReplyDeleteWhile the article did not address every argument regarding vaccinations causing autism, it did combat one theory with very strong evidence. Aside from the scientific research performed by Lipkin, there is evidence suggesting that autism is genetically transmitted through carriers, from parent to child. This is the case with a family in my parents' ward. The father possesses a mild form of autism which has been more severely passed on to two of five children.
When the father was young, autism was not as commonly diagnosed. Because his case was mild, he was merely thought to be a troublesome child, rather than one with a disability. Now, as we understand autism much better, we can diagnose people with autism much more accurately than we once could. This could easily explain some of the increased amount of children possessing autism in recent years.
I believe that there still much more research to be done before I can form a solid opinion about whether or not vaccinations are a contributing factor to the onset of Autism. The Washington Post article was not very convincing in it's attempts to back up the claim that vaccinations and Autism are not linked. I had several issues with the study conducted by Ian Lipkin to disprove the connection. Firstly, I had a very difficult time accepting his findings due to the fact that his sample size was pathetically small. Lipkin based his findings on the results of biopsies from only 38 children, all of whom were already scheduled for biopsies. This raises a red flag in my mind. I can hardly believe that a sweeping statement to discount the connection between vaccinations and Autism can be made on such a small sample of the autistic population, especially one in which the children were already suspected of having bowel problems. In my mind, this discredits the findings of the study. For the same reason, I can't give too much credit to the accounts of parents of children with Autism who insist that the onset of the disability and the date of a vaccination coincided. Like several of the other students have mentioned, these parents are often too emotionally involved to make a truly credible claim. There are too many variables and emotions to gather true empirical data. While I don't believe that vaccinations cause Autism, I wouldn't completely rule out the claim until more research has been done.
ReplyDelete-Carrie Eichelberger
I agree with previous posts, that the research is not conclusive but it seems unlikely that the onset of autism is caused by vaccinations. Both the mother in the video and the researchers in the article have weaknesses in their arguments.
ReplyDeleteThe mother in the video made her arguments based simply on timing, and occurring at the same time does not prove that one event causes another. The consistent age of autism onset could easily be caused by something else; there are many things that happen at 12-15 months besides vaccinations. The mother was emotional about her child, and eager to blame what she saw as the loss of her child on someone. The Wakefield study that associated autism with the MMR vaccine only looked at 12 children, a sample too small to have statistical significance. There is a definite lack of evidence to support the idea that vaccines cause autism.
A lack of evidence for something, however, does not completely rule out the possibility that it could be true. The article cited a study by Lipkin that used only 38 children, which is hardly more substantial than Wakefield's 12. More research needs to be done with larger samples, taking into consideration timing and medical factors. There is still a chance that vaccinations could cause autism, but it is more likely that they are unrelated.
-Corinne
I don't think that vaccinations cause autism. I watched the video a couple of times, and though I sympathize with the mother, I think she's just looking for any excuse, looking for a reason for the condition of her son. Not to put down the argument, but I think that a lot of parents do that- they try and find some kind of explanation, but there isn't always an explanation, and that's hard. I do think that there could be more research done, on this topic, but I have always felt that it just seems a little too far-fetched to claim that vaccinations cause autism, especially when there has been at least a little bit of research that claims the contrary. As someone stated above, why don't we all have autism? In this family's case, 12 months is young. The child could have been autistic the whole time, but the mother may not have noticed the symptoms until after he got sick and is choosing to believe that the two are connected. It's kind of like what we were talking about in our Applied Behvarior Analysis class today about Indirect Obeservation. You can't rely totally on memory, because it's usually biased. The mother may totally believe that the symptoms were apparent only after the vaccinations, but she is trying to find some explanation- so she's a little biased toward thinking that the vaccinations were the cause of her son's conditions. I do sympathize with parents, but I'm going to have to agree with the researchers on this one.
ReplyDeleteFrom the information that was presented and also from what I have personally heard, I would agree with the researchers in that vaccinations aren’t the cause of autism. I feel like I personally need to do more research in what MMR is and its affects. I also need more information when this vaccination was started and when they stopped, or if they have, putting mercury in them. I think that the mother from the video hasn’t quite accepted that he little boy has autism. I feel she may just have gotten really emotionally involved, or course, and was looking for someway to blame or explain her sounds condition. The way that she talked about her son like having died, made me feel like she hasn’t cooped with this. But I don’t think that proves that autism was caused by the vaccinations.
ReplyDeleteI know that there is more information coming all the time about autism and how to classify it. More and more students are having the ability to receive a correct disability classification now. Before these students would have just been placed in the best fit category or in an unknown one. Now the numbers may have gone up but not due to vaccinations, due to better classification. I would personally even as a parent want my children to receive the vaccination. I would be more worried about the damage that would happen to their little bodies with the measles, mumps, than having autism as slight possibility. I just don’t think that those shots are the cause of autism.
I agree more with the researcher’s perspectives than the parents’ viewpoint. I’m sure that there are still ongoing studies and research in this field and for this issue but as of right now, the researchers believe that there is no conclusive evidence that MMR vaccinations specifically, are linked or even remotely related to causing/creating autism. I feel that some parents are looking for and are determined to find a reason why their child has autism. Some may turn to religion, some may turn to chance or fate, and others may turn to science. This mother thought she found her answer and so she will advocate, for the rest of her life, against giving children vaccinations. This will harm a lot of individuals since the mother is playing on the feelings of other mothers and almost scaring them to not get vaccinations for their children instead of relying on the facts and evidence. There needs to be a lot more trust in the evidence and facts instead of running off emotions.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it seems that both side present a good point regarding whether the vacination causes the child to be autistic or not. It's very difficult to choose a side of which one i believe or feel is right. There are way too many children being born with autism that precents a red flag that there may be more to it. Now whether or not it is because of the vaccination i 'm not sure. The one problem that we run into today is that the government and everyone is trying to cover their butt instead of researching into it further. There could be secrets behind this that nobody is willing to fess up because they are scared of the outcome. But at the same time this could be true that it has nothing to do with. Who knows.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at both the video and the article I have decided that vaccinations do not cause autism. The research that was presented in the article seemed to be very thorough, and give strong evidence that vaccinations are not related to autism. A lot of the reason that this is such a controversial issue is that children are often diagnosed with autism right around the age that vaccinations are given. Based on what the study found in 1998 I think a lot of parents are looking for signs of autism after the vaccinations are given, so even though the symptoms may be there before they do not notice until after.
ReplyDeleteI have issues with both sides of the argument though I tend to side with the current research showing that there seems to be little, if any, causal relationship between the MMR vaccine and the onset of autism. Previous posts suggested that further research be done and I fully agree with this. Wakefield’s study and ones that have been done so far are not comprehensive, although they do provide good information.
ReplyDeleteLipkin said, “If in fact you want to implicate a factor in the causation of an illness, it must be present before the illness . . . There was no evidence . . . MMR preceded either autism or GI problem.” I agree with Lipkin, and I also think that you cannot change or criticize decisions based on information that was not available. Now, I do not know if this was the case but this also means that Ben’s mother should not blame his autism on MMR vaccines if she did not know about the supposed relationship between the two before his diagnosis.
Another issue that has consistently been raised in your blog discussion but not thoroughly in the article is the correlation of age of diagnosis and age of vaccination. One efficient way to confirm or refute this correlation is to isolate the two variables. Randomly, force 100 children to be vaccinated and another 100 random children to not be vaccinated (this is the control group – they will be injected with another harmless substance) and then determine the correlation between autism and not. However, this is unethical and fortunately not necessary because the research so far demonstrates that autism in not caused by vaccinations.
I have one more question: what would Ben’s mother accept as evidence that the MMR vaccine did not cause her son’s autism? If nothing, then we know that her story is unreliable and incredibly biased.
Charisse VanDerwerken
This mother was clearly just looking for something to blame. You can’t put a blanket cause over all cases of autism, and honestly, it’s far more risky to not give your child the MMR vaccine. Where she (and all these other parents) got the idea that it was mercury in the vaccine still mystifies me—correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that autism and mercury poisoning are two very different things. At the very least, one would expect to see more physical side effects (neuropathy, for example) had Ben’s autism been caused by mercury present in the MMR vaccine.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the research is somewhat inconclusive, but I highly doubt that it will ever show early childhood vaccines and autism to be directly correlated. Yet there are those who ignore the research and instead choose to heed the warnings of biased, misinformed parents. What worried me the most out of the Washington Post article was that “…the 1998 study and others had prompted some parents to forgo vaccinating their children,” leading to more cases of the highly contagious measles virus (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090303396.html). Better to stick with the sure thing and make sure your child doesn’t get measles, mumps, or rubella and spread it to others.
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ReplyDeleteOne thing that I agree with is what their final finding was: that vaccines don't have a relationship to someone having autism. One interesting fact was that 91% of the 131 measles cases were due to them not being vaccinated in the first place. You walk into a town of over-worried women who all believe that vaccines cause autism, and the entire town is sick with these diseases because nobody is getting quarantined. Their ideas are dangerous just because of their narrow views.
ReplyDelete