Laurel asked:
My baby is 6 weeks old and scheduled for her first vaccinations in two weeks. I’ve read a lot about the link between vaccines and autism lately, and was looking for some more opinions. Does anyone know of the most recent data, have a personal experience, or just an opinion? thanks!
My baby is 6 weeks old and scheduled for her first vaccinations in two weeks. I’ve read a lot about the link between vaccines and autism lately, and was looking for some more opinions. Does anyone know of the most recent data, have a personal experience, or just an opinion? thanks!
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I think that the benefits of the vaccinations outweigh the risks.
I think this debate causes a lot of drama on here.
YOU do what YOU feel is best for YOUR child.
Don’t let anyone sway you either way .. I think you need to do your OWN research and come to your own decision.
Personally, I AM vaccinating my son.
The benefits outweigh the risks.
The vaccine in question (mostly) is the MMR shot (Measles Mumps and Rubella) and my son’s Pediatrician told us if you get the vaccine AFTER the child turns 2, then the risks are even lower. So we are waiting until after his 2nd Birthday to get that shot.
All the other vaccinations he is getting on time.
I live in California and it’s *required* for the child to be vaccinated when they start Kindergarten.
Also, there is a higher risk of outbreaks here because of the Mexico border.
I’m not taking chances with my sons health.
A little scare of Autism is nothing compared to a scare of an outbreak of the disease!
::IN MY OPINION::
If we don’t vaccinate our children, then our Country isn’t going to be any better off than all these 3rd-World-Countries coming down with all these diseases.
WE have the option to vaccinate our Children to prevent our Country from becoming one of those – why not take advantage of the opportunity to prevent the spread of diseases?
I have a 10 month old and just recently did an informative speech for my speech class on this. It’s not actually the injection itself, it is the preservative they use. I have just been letting my daughter get the shots that they have because i know when she goes to kindergarden she’s going to have to have them anyways.You can always ask the doctor to get a “mercury-free” vaccination. None of the vaccinations are 100% free….the government doesn’t want to pay to upgrade the plants that make vaccinations. I haven’t really worried about it too much because autism is more prone in boys than girls.
My dr said that basically if a child is going to develop autism it is at the age of the MMR. So it is coincidental and an age thing not a shot thing. Also I have not done all the shots on my children. Research each shot and do what you think is best. Talk to you dr and see what he or she thinks about each shot. But you also have the problem with schools and daycares and shots.
i, like you have recently heard about this.. my baby is now 14 months.. my niece has autism and its believed to be from the vaccinations.. she was fine.. she talked she was social and now she is 3 and doesn’t talk and plays alone.. I’m worried about the 18 month needles.. that is usually when it autism is detected.. so is that because of the 18 month needle? i’m still reseaching..
I got my daughter vaccinated and I thought about not, but then I thought about measles and mumps and how they are making a come back due to people not getting their kids vaccinated. The preservative possibly linked to autism has been removed from the shelves. The drug companies don’t even make very much money off of vaccines, so that is not what they are in it for, a lot of them have actually backed out of vaccines. Due to lack of funds. I would do it because the benefits out weigh the risks.
I was also scared to get my son vaccinated because of all this talk about autism but the benefits really do outweigh the risks so he’s been vaccinated on schedule and hes been fine… the only thing I would do is maybe seperate the shots that come all together like the MMR.
Get the vaccinations! This autism thing is not for sure but the diseases that your child can get by not being vaccinated ARE REAL!!! Would you really want to risk that?
Millions of children have been vaccinated for many years – where is the problem?
Also – if your child is not properly vaccinated, she will not be allowed to attend daycare or school until she IS properly vaccinated. If you really think this is a problem, you should talk to your pediatrician and see what they say regarding this.
My son got vaccinated. why put your baby at risk on maybe catching one of the diseases. when a child isnt vaccinated it puts that child, plus other children he/she comes in contact with at risk for catching and passing diseases/virus’s.
Ive seen many questions on here about parents not wanting to vaccinate their child because they believe that the vaccinations do more harm than good. thats crap! the reason they invented vaccinations is to prevent the spread of disease, and protect people/children (especially, since elders and children are more at risk) against it.
In comparing the risk of giving the vaccine to the risk of a child contracting a disease, every situation is different. In medicine, this is referred to as the risk-benefit ratio. What is the risk of getting the vaccine vs the benefit of avoiding the disease? If a child is vaccinated, what are the risks (side effects)? If a child is not vaccinated, there are many factors involved in whether or not the child will actually be exposed to the disease, will contract the disease, and will suffer from having the disease.
Therefore, in any given vaccine, the question is whether or not the risk of vaccination outweighs the risk of getting the disease.
The number of vaccines added to the list of recommended or required vaccines for children has increased tremendously in the past 10 years. The 1995 list included DPT (diptheria and pertussis and tetanus), polio, and hepatitis b. Now added to the 2007 list is pneumococcal, influenza, varicella, hepatitis a, rotavirus, meningococcal, and human papilloma virus (HPV). Infants receive 4, 5 or even 6 shots at a single visit, encompassing up to 9 diseases.
For the most part, immunization is based on the concept of “herd immunity”, a type of immunity that occurs when the vaccination of the a portion of the population (or herd) provides protection to un-vaccinated individuals. The theory behind the development of “herd immunity” is: in diseases that can be passed from person to person, it is more difficult to pass that disease easily when there are those who are immune to it. The more immune individuals there are, the less likely it is that a susceptible person will come into contact with someone who has the disease.
Even if valid, the concept of herd immunity does not apply to some vaccines such as the tetanus vaccine, which protects only vaccinated persons from pathogens, and does not generate herd immunity within the population.
Since 1991, Hep B is a vaccine given to all newborns. Yet it is virtually impossible for a baby to get hepatitis B unless the mother is infected. Unlike diseases that are transmitted via air and casual contact, hepatitis B is transmitted by direct contact with blood and other body fluids. Those at risk include intravenous drug users, sexually active individuals, blood transfusion recipients, and health care workers.
Yet hepatitis B vaccination is mandatory for attending day care and 42 states added the vaccine to their lists of immunizations required for attending school. This is because, in failing to reach the high-risk populations, public health officials are making hepatitis B vaccination compulsory for all children, even infants who clearly are not at risk. Infants are simply the easiest targets to immunize.
Being that there is no link between vaccines and autism, the vaccines are the wise way to go.
My children are vaccinated, naturally, because I wanted to protect them from the illnesses that vaccines are meant to prevent. The childhood illnesses are not as innocent as some may think.
I know of 2 different families who live pretty far apart from one another. (Used to live in the southern part of the state and moved to the northern part)
One family has 3 boys. The other family has 2 girls. In the family with 3 boys the first two have autism. In the family with 2 girls, both girls have autism.
Both families had all vaccines for their firstborn. They were absolutely certain it was the shots, so they got ZERO shots for their second born. Second born also has autism. With the family with 3, the third child is autism free.
This is a very highly debated issue, and it is one that concerned me with my first child. I have done lots and lots of research on the subject, because I also used to work with autistic children before I quit work to go back to college. Several European countries have done exhaustive studies and found that there is no link between autism and vaccinations. The researches who say there may be a link are pointing the finger at Thimerosol, an additive that contains mercury. However, the mercury content is so low that most health officials feel it is very safe.
Autism is usually diagnosed at around the same time or shortly after vaccines for 18 months are given. Most researchers feel that it is simply a matter of how old a child is that symptoms of autism begin to present themselves, and that the timing of the vaccinations has nothing to do with it.
My pediatrician felt that the benefits of vaccinating my child outweighed the possible drawbacks, and after some research, I agree.
There is no proven link between vaccinations and autism.
That said, the schedule and amount of vaccinations is just obscene. I will be skipping some and delaying others until Sophia is at least 2.
Babies in Japan have a delayed schedule compared to ours (start at 2 YO), no higher instance of infectuous disease, and a much lower instance of autism. Now that doesn’t mean that the two are related, but those are the facts.
I simply worry about artificially and continually stimulating an infants immune system in this fashion, and that’s enough for me to delay them. Others IMO are not necessary, such as:
Hepatitis B- It is transmitted the exact same way as AIDS, with a fluid transfer. I don’t think my baby will be having unprotected sex or shooting up, and I don’t have it, so…
Chicken pox- The vaccine doesn’t work, I don’t care what anyone says. I know 3 families whos children have all gotten it after being vaccinated anyway, and it is much better to get it as a child rather than adult. Why bother?
Influenza- The vaccine strain rarely targets the years flu, and even though the CDC goes on and on about how dangerous flu is, in years where the current strain is not targeted deaths are no higher (this is according to the CDC’s own numbers on their website.) If the vaccination was really necessary and effective, deaths would rise significantly in years where there is no protection.
Pnemonia- Most pneumonians are bacterial, not viral. The viral strain is constantly mutating and so the vaccine doesn’t work. Viral pneumonia is also quite rare and usually infects immunocompromised people.
Rotavirus- This virus is constantly mutating as well, no vaccine can keep up with it.
This is just my opinion from *alot* of research, you will have to form your own based on what you believe.
Take care!
EDIT- Not being able to attend school is often trotted out as a reason to vaccinate, but you need to know that *every* state has exemptions for public school. Daycare and kindergarden is a different story however. The government does not and should not have the power to require vaccinations- they are a pharmaceutical *drug* and the government cannot mandate them.
please go to this page and read about vaccinations, it also has an FAQ page:
honestly protect your child and vaccinate them. yes there is a risk in EVERYTHING we do, like getting in a car with your child an driving down the road, could you get in an accident? yes but does that mean you never drive?
there is a risk (greater risk) in NOT vaccinating your child.
and regarding thimerosal in vaccines:
“Since 2001, with the exception of some influenza (flu) vaccines, thimerosal is not used as a preservative in routinely recommended childhood vaccines.”
– from CDC website (and they explain a lot more on their website as well, they have an FAQ section and a lot of information on the safety of vaccines)
here is another helpful link from the NICHD on vaccines and autism:
All three of my girls were vaccinated and haven’t shown any signs of autisim.
A new Canadian study concludes that childhood immunizations do not cause autism.
The study led by Dr. Eric Fombonne, director of pediatric psychiatry at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, aims to dispel the theory that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine may cause developmental disorders including autism and Asperger Syndrome.
Researchers also found there was no link between vaccines containing thimerosal and developmental disorders.
“In the past, concern about a potential link between measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations and autism led some parents to take the drastic step of refusing to inoculate their children against dangerous childhood diseases like measles,” Fombonne said in a news release issued Wednesday.
“This action resulted in resurgence of the measles, which caused the deaths of several young children in Europe,” Fombonne said.
i was talking my health visitor about this the other day and she said that there is no known connection between the mmr and autism. As it is the mmr that was rumored to cause autism not the other vaccinations babies have, you can decide not to vaccinate if that is what you wish i know my partner does not want my son to have his mmr until he is 3 as he is concerned about the rumors as well but at the age of three you would already be able to tell if your child was going to be autistic or not so you would know how to cope better. There is no scientific evidence to support this superstition. Hope this helps
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