The Link Between Autism and Immunization

756 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Vaccines and autism argumentative essay

A recent spike in the number of diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders has also brought to light the controversy that exists concerning the link between autism and immunizations. In a piece published by CNN, Jenny McCarthy depicts her son’s recovery from autism. In it, she claims that autism is an entirely environment illness, and states that vaccines are a major trigger of the disease. A Newsweek article printed in 2005 discusses the search for a cure for autism, citing the many methods parents have used in an attempt to treat their children—including a wheat and dairy free diet, and a controversial treatment method that strips the body of metals called chelation. Again, it was brought up that the osteopath who prescribed these methods, Mary Ann Block, felt that toxins from vaccines were the roots of autism. These claims continue to be purported, despite countless studies that have argued the exact opposite. Two 2007 articles, one from the Duke University medicine website, and one published by CBS, state that vaccinations are not linked to autism—specifically, the MMR vaccine, and the preservative thimerosal that can be found in some others. The CBS article cites evidence from studies done on pregnant women given the Rh vaccine, which contains thimerosal, a preservative supposedly linked to the development of autism. In the study, it was found that the children with autism had received no more exposure to thimerosal prior to birth than children without autism. The Dukehealth.com article also raises concerns about the reoccurrence of disease outbreaks due to the lack of vaccination. A piece run in The Daily Beast also brings about this point, as it explains how Maryland school officials are suing parents who refuse to vaccinate th...

... middle of paper ...

...nce promoters, and corroborate the doctor’s claims that autism is not linked with immunization, and in fact, refusal to vaccinate your children will be doing them more harm than good.

Works Cited

Baker, J. P. (2007, May 3). Does the MMR Vaccine Cause Autism? - DukeHealth.org. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
Boyles, S. (2007, May 16). Study: No Thimerosal Vaccine-Autism Link - CBS News. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
Hviid, A., Stellfield, M., Wohlfahrt, J., & Melbye, M. (2003, October 1). Association Between Thimerosal-Containing Vaccine and Autism. The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Kalb, C. (2005, February 28). When Does Autism Start? Newsweek.
Kuchment, A. (2007, November 15). Vaccinate Your Kids--Or Else. The Daily Beast.
McCarthy, J., & Carrey, J. (2008, April 4). Jenny McCarthy: My son's recovery from autism - CNN.com. Retrieved November 20, 2013.

Show More
Related

  • The Vaccine War

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Frontline episode The Vaccine War, a progressively distressful debate ensues among many scientists and doctors within the public health system and an unnerving alliance of parents, politicians, and celebrities. The topic of debate is the overwhelming pressure parents feel to vaccinate their children and their right to decline such vaccinations. In several American neighborhoods, groups of parents have been exercising their right to refuse vaccinations, which has elevated anxiety on the return of vaccine-preventable diseases such as pertussis and measles. The reason such parents are denying their children various vaccines such as the MMR “triple shot” for measles, mumps, and rubella is because they are convinced that it is linked to autism, a link that has yet to be proven. Many of these parents are focused solely on their children, not taking into account that their decision may put the American populace at risk for disease. Such parents are not thinking about other members of society that vaccines don’t work for, and in certain adolescents the effects deteriorate, thus only when every person is immunized the “heard immunity” is successful.

    Read More

  • The Vaccine Court and the Autism Test Case, Written by Lauren L. Haertlei

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    Haertlein’s article will be particularly useful for my research because it goes into great detail about the Vaccine Court and provides multiple court cases to use as resources later. Even more, it offers definitions of terms that could be useful. She uses a standard argument, scientific evidence, to back up her statement. Haertlein’s article has made me even more excited to further study the controversy between vaccinations and autism.

    Read More

  • Pop Culture And Autism Essay

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1999 a study was done in the United Kingdom to see if there was a link between the two. In this study, researchers compared children had had and had not gotten the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination. The study identified four hundred and ninety-eight cases of autism including core autism, atypical autism and Asperger syndrome in children born in the United Kingdom since 1979. There was an increase in cases by year of birth with no change after the introduction of the vaccination. There was also no age difference at diagnosis between the cases vaccinated before or after eighteen months of age and children that were never vaccinated. These results showed no temporal association between the onset of autism within one or two years after being vaccinated with MMR and developmental regression was not clustered in the months after vaccination. The data from these results does not support the connection between MMR and autism and if an association was to occur it was so rare it could not be identified. Many studies have been done over this topic but the results prove that it in fact does not cause autism. It is likely that this myth is strongly accepted because the symptoms of autism begin to occur around the same time as the child is to be vaccinated with the MMR

    Read More

  • Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism

    3078 Words  | 7 Pages

    Despite all the testing and approval process of vaccines, many people still mistakenly believe that vaccines cause autism, even in light of research that has disproven the notion. This evidences the difficulty of dispelling false statements once someone has accepted a falsehood, especially if it has scientific research backing the results. It also highlights the gullibility of the public at large to believe anything that medical research reports without questioning the findings. Unfortunately, the media attention such examples of junk science receive aids in convincing many of its truthfulness. The hype surrounding the belief that vaccines cause autism began in 1998 when Andrew Wakefield in the UK published an article in the Lancet linking the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR...

    Read More

  • Austism and Vaccines

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    Every year, tens of thousands Americans die from the seasonal flu alone. This alarming statistic is what led the United States government to urge the country to vaccinate themselves, as well as their children every November, when the flu season is fast approaching. Though countless Americans do follow the government’s plea, many others insist that these vaccines distributed every year (as well as other year-long vaccines) contain an abnormally high amount of thimerosal, (a mercury-based chemical in vaccines designed to prevent the growth of bacteria) which could eventually lead to autism. This generation of fear is what has led many concerned parents to refuse to vaccinate their children, who seem to be the most vulnerable to this disease. However, can we really trust a rumor to fuel our doubts of America’s struggle to fight disease among our people? Can we discontinue our trust in the health department because of paranoia? No. Even if autism may be an effect of these vaccines, it is our duty, our responsibility to protect the good of the public by preventing an outbreak of this infl...

    Read More

  • Vaccines Are The Cause Of Autism In Children

    567 Words  | 2 Pages

    "My child fell into autism directly after his 12 month MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine" (Stark). Her son Kieran was developing and acting like a normal child until his MMR vaccines (Stark). After the vaccines, Kieran developed a high fever, lethargic, and extreme diarrhea which eventually led him to be unresponsive, refuse to eat, and became mute (Stark). After 20 months of these symptoms, Kieran was diagnosed with autism (Stark). This parent is just one of millions that experience the same side effects of

    Read More

  • Theories of Autism Causes

    1913 Words  | 4 Pages

    Autism is a life changing experience for a person. With all of the research and studies that are being done, the theory that vaccines are the cause of autism has not yet been determined. Autism can be caused by many different things and shouldn’t blame one individual reason. The exact causes of autism may never be discovered, but with all of the studies being done scientists should find out every little detail about this disability, including a cure. The day autism is cured will be the day every child struggling with this defect will be able to start a normal life, and that day will make history.

    Read More

  • Vaccination Essay

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    The CNN article, “The end of the autism/vaccine debate?” done by Rope (2010), talks about how Andrew Wakefield, suggested that the MMR vaccine might cause autism. In the article you also come to learn that a lawyer who was going to court on behalf of parents who believed that the MMR vaccine cased their child’s autism paid Wakefield. Wakefield was found doing unnecessary painful procedures on children, and in 2010 was banned from practicing medicine. Unfortunately, this study did a lot more harm than good. This study put a lot of fear in parents and they refused to vaccinate their children because of this. Physicians now warn parent’s that refusing to vaccinate your child is not a risk-free choice and in some cases may even have deadly consequences.

    Read More

  • MMR Vaccine and Autism

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    Doctor Andrew Wakefield had written a paper in Lancet journal in 1998 which suggested that MMR vaccine causes autism. In his research, he found out that MMR vaccine was responsible for bowel inflammation that leads to the translocation of non-permeable peptides into the bloodstream. (American Academy of Pediatrics) This in turn carries them to the brain causing the root of autism spectrum disorder to form. His research was called weak by drug corporations, governments and media companies and was then discredited earning him a fraud reputation. His paper has since raised a decade long argument on MMR vaccine originating autism spectrum disorder. This has caused a lot of parents to withdraw their children from being vaccinated, which increased measles infections.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay Vaccines

    1411 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are also many cases where many parents strongly believe that some vaccines may have caused autism in their children. The reason being that many parents noticed shortly after their child was vaccinated they noticed symptoms like loss of language abilities and they suddenly stopped interacting with people. Also, the vaccines used to treat measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) are linked to many autism cases. Vaccines that contain thimerosal, an organic compound that contains mercury, have also been suspected to cause autism in children. Thimerosal has been removed from most vaccines because of its linkage to autism.

    Read More

  • The Vaccine War Argumentative Analysis

    608 Words  | 2 Pages

    Those fears are what motivate parents not to vaccinate their children. Many parents hear stories of children who go in for vaccinations and soon after develop autism or other neurologic disabilities, and decide that vaccines should not be given to children. Government agencies and medical research centers have gone through study after study in an attempt to disprove the theory that vaccines cause autism, and so far,

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Autism

    1955 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 1950’s many psychoanalysts who followed the Freudian belief system, argued that the condition of autism came from the parents withdrawing from the newborn child. The mother’s mostly being blamed for the infant’s condition. The name they choose for these dysfunctional mother’s was “refrigerator mother’s”, due there cold hearted nature. These women were told that they needed to pay more attention to their children or that they were disciplining them too harshly. Still, there are some theories that are being looked at in the recent years. Such as family genetics that is passed down from one parent to the child and there may also be environmental reasons. No one knows exactly how the environment has caused ADS; some theorize that vaccines are to blame for a sudden onset of ADS. Namely the measles vaccine is said to cause autism by damaging the lining of the stomach. Thimerosal is a preservative found in vaccines it contains mercury and has been linked to this disease. It has also been theorized that receiving too many vaccines at one time damages the immune system therefore causing autism. Research studies with family genetics have been done to identify how many genes are associated with ADS. These studies have revealed irregularities in parts of the brain in people suspected of having ADS. Also there has been a link to low levels of serotonin or other neurotransmitters in the brain that are needed to maintain

    Read More

  • Anti Vaccination Essay

    2192 Words  | 5 Pages

    In recent years, the correlation between vaccines and autism has become the subject of much debate. On one side, there are the anti-vaccinators, or anti-vaccers. On the other, there’s pretty much everyone else. Despite the fact that the anti-vaccination movement has little base in scientific fact, their campaign to end early infanthood vaccinations rages on. While doctors and scientists try desperately to make parents look at the research studies, vaccination rates continue to fall. But, even in these dark times, there is still hope that scientific fact will prevail and defeat the anti-vaccination fear mongers who have caused many children to fall ill and even die because their parents did not properly vaccinate them. This is one of the most saddening scientific failures of the twenty-first century. A failure to educate the public properly has resulted in child, even infant, fatalities. The anti-vaccination movement was started based on falsified data and continues only because of a lack of knowledge and proper education of the general public.

    Read More

  • The Benefits of Vaccinations

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    Vaccines against diphtheria, polio, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella, and more recent additions of hepatitis B and chicken pox, have given humans powerful immune guards to ward off unwelcome sickness. And thanks to state laws that require vaccinations for kids enrolling in kindergarten, the U.S. presently enjoys the highest immunization rate ever at 77%. Yet bubbling beneath these national numbers is the question about vaccine safety. Driven by claims that vaccinations can be associated with autism, increasing number of parents are raising questions about whether vaccines are in fact harmful to children, instead of helpful (Park, 2008).

    Read More

  • Vaccine Argumentative Essay

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    The third and most essential reason that the United States should enforce national inoculation pertains to the concept that vaccines can support not only individual immunity, but also herd immunity to protect those who are medically incompatible with vaccines. A prevailing argument that pro-volunteer individuals frequently make is that vaccines have the potential to be harmful to individuals; a primary motive behind this pertains to an alleged correlation that exists between thimerosal, a component of vaccines, and countless disorders including autism (Benjamin, 2003). According to Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center, “When you take a look at the ever-increasing numbers of doses of vaccines babies have received over the past two decades and you see this corresponding rise in chronic disease and disability in our children, it is out of control” (Benjamin, 2003). Many speculated that the mercury contained within the thimerosal was to blame for this.

    Read More

More about The Link Between Autism and Immunization

Open Document