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The MMR Vaccine and Autism: Is there a connection?

© Lara E. Kaskabas

I have been reading a lot lately about a possible connection between the MMR Vaccine and Autism and the Autism spectrum disorders like ADD/ADHD and PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder). Parents of autistic children have noted that their child began displaying autistic behaviors just after receiving their MMR vaccination on a routine visit to the pediatrician. I was watching an interview with a mother of two autistic children when she said that her oldest daughter showed regression in her speech and motor skills after an MMR shot. Shortly thereafter she began displaying autistic behaviors like rocking and rhythmic movements and a refusal to make eye contact. As a mother who has decided to delay vaccination, and perhaps not vaccinate at all, this was another reason to have confidence in our decision. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control), a government agency responsible for evaluating the safety and efficacy of vaccines, as well as (and in my opinion this presents a HUGE conflict of interest) promoting the use of vaccines in infants and children to "wipe out disease" -- stands by ALL currently used vaccines as "unconditionally safe". The phrase "unconditionally safe" begs us as parents to have faith -- "don't worry". We are supposed to believe that these vaccines they are injecting into our tiny babies' bodies are perfectly safe. The CDC, as well as our pediatricians, tell us that "the risk of contracting one of these diseases far outweighs the risks associated with vaccinating". But, we thought you said they were "unconditionally safe". What risks are they talking about? Well, they are talking about adverse vaccine reactions.

In an editorial at the Autism Research Institute web-site, Bernard Rimland, Ph.D. writes, "Congress requires records to be kept of the lot numbers of vaccines for which unusually large number of 'adverse events' (side effects) are reported. But the information is then simply ingnored. The 'hot lots' as they are called, are not destroyed, but continue to be injected into infants and children. No use throwing out expensive vaccines--dollars are worth more than lives." If more parents went directly to the VAERS instead of trusting their pediatricians to report a bad reaction, maybe the statistics would reveal the truth about the safety of these vaccines. But the problem is that doctors are NOT passing on the information about adverse vaccine reactions. According to a telephone survey conducted by the National Vaccine Information Center 94% of New York State doctors said they would NOT turn in official reports when parents notified them of significant vaccine side effects. This means several things: that these doctors are more concerned with bad P.R. for vaccines than they are for the welfare of our children, and that the statistics are not an accurate representation of the safety of vaccines.

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