It’s a topic that has gained much notice in the last ten years and is at the forefront of most new parents’ minds. Is there a valid link between childhood vaccines and Autism? It’s the cause of many debates between health care professionals and parents, with each side having what seem to be valid arguments, many people are left confused as to what they should do. When my daughter’s eighteen month check up was approaching, many family members were trying to persuade me to not vaccinate her. They felt that having epilepsy was hard enough why add autism into the mix. For us, we were able to compromise; I chose to space out the DTP and MMR into two visits. But for many parents there isn’t a gray area, it’s either vaccinate and give your child autism or don’t and they could potentially come down with a life threatening virus. I chose to compromise not because I thought vaccines caused autism but it would help keep the peace among my family.
With celebrities like Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carry indorsing the move to not vaccinate children, many are feeling the pressure, including scientist and Politian’s. The main claim from the non-vaccination group is the mercury in the childhood vaccines has caused an increase in autism among America’s youth. According to Carol Weber; Thimerosal, a mercury containing organic compound; has been used as a preservative in many vaccines since the 1930’s to inhibit bacterial growth (245).The only problem is; most drug manufactures have taken Thimerosal out of vaccine since as early as the 1990’s.
Thimerosal was introduced in the mid 1900’s to help combat bacterial contamination in childhood vaccines after several major safety issues in the early 20th century. According to Jeffrey Baker’s article “Mercury, Vaccines, and Autism: One Controversy, Three Histories”, there were two major cases of bacterial contamination in vaccines. One case in Columbia, South Carolina in 1916 were a tainted batch of typhoid vaccine caused over sixty severe reactions, twenty six abscesses and four deaths(02). Or in 1928 in Queensland, Australia where 12 of 21 children vaccinated with the diphtheria vaccine died of “multiple staphylococcal abscesses and toxemia” (245). There preservatives found in earlier vaccines either where able to combat the bacteria but less the effectiveness of the vaccine or allow the spread of bacteria and keep the vaccines at the strength they needed. It was because of cases like Queensland and Columbia that drug manufactures were searching for a new preservative. When thimerosal was introduced, drug companies were already using mercury containing preservative such as phenol and cresol which were potentially harmful (Baker 02). In the 1970’s the public first became aware of the potential risks of mercury poisoning after several incidents with Methylmercury (Weber 209). Methylmercury is found in fish and industrial pollution, which has been linked to neurotoxicity in people exposed to large amounts.
After the California Department of Developmental Services published a report stating that autism rates have increased 273% over a ten year period, the public began using the term “autism epidemic”(Weber 290). With this report coupled with their personal struggles, parents began the quest for a cause and a cure. The general consensus is that after the fifteen to eighteen month round of shots, many parents feel that’s when their children slipped away. At the average age of eighteen months, infants are given at least two shots with three viruses in each. On the web site, Generation Rescue, Jenny McCarthy writes that before her son Evan received his MMR shot she asked the doctor if this was the “autism shot”. She goes on to say that “soon thereafter -- boom -- the soul's gone from his eyes." This situation along with her son having severe seizures brought Jenny to embark on her own research, leading her to vaccines. Given her experiences it’s easy to see how she got there. When you search the web about autism and possible causes, many sites point to that conclusion.
Many of the top activists for eliminating thimerosal are taking drastic measures to try and force the government to reform the requirements vaccines should meet. Some are going as far as throwing parties with truly sick children, some with chicken pox and such, to build up natural immunities. It seems many have forgotten why vaccines are still around. Diseases like small pox, which according to Lynne Levitsky, “more than 48,000 people contracted annually over one hundred years ago”. Before immunizations were a common practice, over 170,000 people contracted diphtheria annually, and over 500,000 cases of measles were reported each year in the United States alone. Perhaps drug manufactures need to overhaul the ingredients in vaccines used today, but to go without these important diseases preventing shot seems like the wrong path to me. Protect your kids from what you can and let the rest be as it may.
Work Cited List
Baker, Jeffrey P. "Mercury, Vaccines, and Autism One Controversy, Three Histories." American Journal of Public Health 98.2 (2008): 244-253. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 6 Dec. 2009.
Levitsky, Lynne L. "Childhood Immunizations and Chronic Illness." New England Journal of Medicine Apr. 2004: 1380+.Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 9 Nov. 2009. < http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24923154&site=ehost-live>
McCarthy, Jenny. “Evan’s Story.” Generation Rescue. 2007. 7 December 2009
Weber, Carol J. "Update on Autism and Childhood Vaccines." Urologic Nursing 28.4 (2008): 290- 291. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 9 Nov. 2009. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=34536866&site=ehost-live
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