My son is getting closer to his 1-year-old birthday and I can’t believe how fast the time went! I am a proud dad and certainly want what is best for him.
Ever since my son was born, I have thought about the MMR immunization — a combined vaccine that aims to prevent measles, mumps and rubella – that has many parents, including myself, worried about this vaccine because of its “possible” links to autism. I am no expert on this topic, but as a concerned parent, I have heightened my awareness and been doing some research as well. Over the weekend a family member pointed out that there has been a small measles outbreak in Brooklyn. The NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene posted a July 2, 2009 press that includes this statement, “the Health Department has identified 11 cases of measles in Brooklyn during the past two months and is urging doctors to be vigilant and promptly report suspected cases to the agency. Nearly all the known cases have occurred in children who went unvaccinated, leaving them unprotected against the disease.”
Based on this “hot” topic of the MMR vaccine, I recently saw an article posted in our pediatrician’s office and wanted to share it with other parents: Debunking an Autism Theory, a NY Times editorial from September 9, 2008. Here is the key takeaway:
“The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the C.D.C., and the World Health Organization have found no evidence of a causal link between vaccines and autism. …
“Sadly, even after all of this, many parents of autistic children still blame the vaccine. The big losers in this debate are the children who are not being vaccinated because of parental fears and are at risk of contracting serious — sometimes fatal — diseases.”
Have other parents found recent articles or research related to the MMR vaccine and immunization that you could share?
The MMR vaccine is perfectly safe. It’s important to protect your baby from measeles. Here are some resources to help you make an informed decision
http://www.childrensimmunization.org/vaccinesafety
http://www.childrensimmunization.org/fearsandmyths
http://www.childrensimmunization.org/socialmedia
Hi NYC Dad’s group. There is a reason you worry about MMR & autism — there’s been a great deal of propaganda spreading that baseless fear.
For my money, one of the best articles explaining the propaganda machine is Steve Novella’s article, VACCINES & AUTISM: Myths and Misconceptions
http://www.csicop.org/si/2007-06/novella.html
Another, later article is by Harriet Hall at Skeptic Magazine
http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/09-06-03#feature
Both Novella and Hall are physicians.
Shannon Rosa has written “My Child Has Autism and I Vaccinate” published at BlogHer
http://www.blogher.com/my-child-has-autism-and-i-vaccinate
Hope those three articles are helpful to you and your group.
My favorite recent quote on the topic: “..the entire point of vaccination programs is to end the need for vaccinations!”
Here’s one of the best and most extensive recent debunks of vaccine myths, from PKids (parents of kids with infections diseases):
http://tr.im/rO4r
I’m not a parent. I am an autistic person who has been following the recent debate about MMR. I’d like to let you know that autism is genetic, and is developed while a baby is in the womb. So if you child is autistic, he is so already and hasn’t shown noticeable signs of his autism. It should be noted that a lot of the times these autistic signs show up coincide with the time of vaccines.
On vaccines themselves, there have been numerous studies showing that vaccines including the MMR, are safe and greatly prevent dangerous, disabiling, and occasionally deadly diseases.
As a mother to a 7 yr old daughter dibilitated by a vaccine preventable disease (pneumococcal meningitis) I say vaccinate! The concquences are way worse!
If the mercury which used to be in vaccines was some ‘autism culprit’, everybody who ate tuna in the 70’s would have ‘developed’ autism.
When parents don’t have their child vaccinated, they put their child and the children their child exposes at risk. Nobody has ever died from being autistic … that isn’t the case with the diseases vaccines prevent.
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