Debunking the Myth: Vaccines Don't Cause Autism

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Paulson 1Daniel PaulsonProfessor FukuchiEnglish 1301-3056226 October 2016Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism In the past few years there have been many false accusations about vaccines causing ASD (Autism spectrum disorder). Arsenal predicted that vaccines caused ASD. Arsenal went on to state “there is absolutely undeniable scientific proof that vaccines cause autism. There is no question! Case closed! Game over!”. This false prediction spread fear in the populace despite the fact there is no hard evidence that vaccines causes ASD. Due to predictions like Arsenal’s gaining so much attention the CDC has issued a statement refuting that vaccines cause autism. There has been increased number of cases of ASD in the last 40 years however this has mostly …show more content…

The intent of this was to reduce fears until the CDC could do comprehensive studies to make sure that vaccines with thimerosal were safe for our most vulnerable citizens, children. There has been “a ten-fold increase in prevalence (. . .of autism) over the last 40 years”, but “there is no established explanation for this continuing increase, although improved diagnosis and environmental influences are two reasons often considered” all of which the article “Autism Speaks” brings up. If vaccines were the cause of the increase in cases of ASD the rate at which people being diagnosed would have plummeted between 1999 and 2001. There is still no definitive answer to why the cases of ASD has rapidly increased but Autism Speaks has identified “that autism is four to five times more common among boys than girls”. You cannot draw the conclusion that vaccines cause autism from this data because vaccines are just as likely to be given to males as females. Doctor Wakefield originally fueled the prediction made by Arsenal has now had his license pulled by the GMC for “dishonesty and irresponsibly in conducting the experiments” (Alice). This alone should be enough to disprove the entire prediction that vaccines cause autism. Wakefield wasn’t even a specialist in the field of early child development he was actually a gastroenterologist making him unqualified to make this connection.

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