The Vaccination-Autism Connection

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The Vaccination-Autism Connection
by RS Davis
The Freedom Files



Hello Freedomphiles! Before my son, Connor, was born, my wife and I had dinner with some friends. They were those kind of libertarians that totally walk the walk. They were the kind that did everything they could to live "off the grid," who would have notes sent home from school because their kids criticized Abraham Lincoln. To be sure, they were some cool people. They embodied that whole anti-establishment blaze your own trail sort of ethos that I totally dig. In short, they were so punk rock.

After dinner, we sat drinking coffee while the kids played, and the subject turned to the safety of childhood vaccinations. You see, their boys, who were probably around five and eight at the time, had never had any vaccinations. They explained that there was a mountain of evidence that childhood vaccinations caused a whole host of medical issues for kids, including Autism.

Now, if there's one thing to know about me, its that I am a very skeptical person. I don't receive information uncritically. I am as likely to debunk an argument that supports my position as I am one that refutes it. My allegiance is to objective truth, and bad information is bad information, regardless of whether it might help me in the short-term.

At the time, though, I was a pretty young libertarian, and these people were like rock stars to me. I admit that I accepted their words as truth, without question or critical analysis. I didn't hit the internet. I didn't check the library. I just filed that little tidbit away, and when it was time for Connor to get vaccinated, we stalled. We figured, hey, if these kids at age two get Autism right after the MMR (Measles-Mumps-Rubella) vaccine, we'd just wait it out, let his body develop more before hitting it with all these chemicals.

Imagine our surprise when Connor began showing signs of Autism before he had even begun his vaccination schedule.

The origin of the idea that the MMR vaccine causes Autism is a Canadian gastroenterologist named Andrew Wakefield, who studied twelve kids with Autism and published his results in 1998...
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Click here to read the rest.

Libertarians. . . 14 year old boys with only a rudimentary understanding of how their grand philosophies play out in the real world of humanity. . . ( see Paul, Randall)

I was going to respond, but I guess this is neither the time nor the place.

Wakefield is not a Canadian, he's a Brit.

There is a whole load of evidence against it as well. Note the age when a kid starts developing speech, naturally. To not vaccinate children is to do a disservice to both them and the people around them. It sickens me. Wakefield ended up getting banned in Britain for it, actually. 12 children isn't NEARLY a large enough sample size to draw ANY conclusions. It's just bad science.

I am very glad you changed your mind.

I keep receiving more and more vaccinations for various things well into adulthood, and I just got another one last week. I am so screwed!

But seriously, I think the whole idea about vaccines causing autism comes from a coincidence of autistic symptoms being diagnosed at about the time vaccines are given. News flash: Your kid was already autistic when you vaccinated him/her!

Yeah, I fixed that on the blog, but didn't fix it here. Thanks, though, for letting me know.

Yeah, what you said!

An AS friend of mine put it to be once like this: Usually the age range when we vaccinate is also when we start expecting certain developmental milestones in our kids-- and when a kid in the spectrum isn't hitting them like clockwork, folks tend to look for some sort of cause. It doesn't make it a cause, it just happens to be around the same time. Folks used to believe in Spontaneous generation, too.

At what age did your son get the MMR? I began vaccinating my son at birth, but held off on the MMR because he started exhibiting autistic signs around 1 yr of age. He is pretty much up to date on his vaccines except for the MMR, I am planning to go ahead with it. I know I have been irrational about it, but like you said, with our children, we think with our hearts and not our heads. I loved your article. Thanks for sharing.

In my area, there has been a measles outbreak (there is information posted all over the schools and preschools).

When asked if I vaccinated my son, I replied "Yes, and if I hadn't vaccinated him, I would have an autistic son with the measles..."

We waited until he was required to have it for pre-k. So, I guess it was about a year and a half ago, when he was 5. Thanks for the love!

No, I'd save that one for PPR

We have many members that come in from a different index and don't realize they've just posted on the parenting board. Pretty much everywhere else that sort of tangent would be rather common.

For the record, I'm not sure there are very many people anywhere who really know how their philosophies play out in the real world. We all tend to speak from our own limited perspectives. But I usually like yours, RSDavis, AND sinsboldly's, so ...

Cute

The cost is definitely coming to bear, and it is the infants that bear the greatest burden, that are too young for immunization and really need to rely on the herd protection.

It's the risk I run when I talk about my political philosophy in one of my Autism articles. But I try to make those as personal as possible, so sometimes it is too relevant to ignore.

My kiddo began showing autism signs before his MMR as well. We were late getting all of his shots because, somewhat ironically, he was sick so often from being exposed to all the local kids whose parents refused to give their older children the flu shots. He finally got his 12 month shots around 16 months, by which point he was still not walking, had lost speech, was lining up trains, flapping, and having huge sensory-related meltdowns.

i was never one way or the other on the vaccine debate, but i did delay vax on my third child after he had some reactions to shots after they gave him 5 in one visit, and broke off the needle in his thigh. he didnt get the MMR on schedule.

ironically, he is my only child dx asd. he is 4 and still hasnt had the MMR, but not for lack of trying. for the last 8 months his doctor has been out of vaccine at every one of his 5 visits.

i still am not one way or the other on the issue, i think vax could be an environmental factor for some but likely not a sole or major cause. i do know for sure they werent a factor for my own son. he was showing signs within a few months of birth, and is exactly like his daddy was as a child.

genetics ftw.