Jan
15
There’s a great, and somewhat sad, article in the NY Times this week; about Dr. Paul Offit and his latest book, Autism’s False Prophets: Risky Science, Bad Medicine. In it, he states that vaccines do not cause autism in young children.
Don’t look for him in a bookstore near you; he’s not going on a book tour for this one. Dr. Offit has had death threats because of what he writes.
“I’ll speak at a conference, say, to nurses,” he said. “But I wouldn’t go into a bookstore and sign books. It can get nasty. There are parents who really believe that vaccines hurt their children, and to them, I’m incredibly evil. They hate me.”
There are lots of people who have not vaccinated their children because of the belief that thimersol, a mercury-based preservative taken out of vaccines in 1999, causes autism. That has been proven wrong by several studies. On the other hand, certain “childhood” diseases that had been almost eradicated are coming back. Like measles. And pertussis, which I had some second-hand experience with as a child*.
Autism is a scary diagnosis for any parent. It’s incredibly hard to imagine not being able to communicate with your child. It would be far worse if your child died from something that could have been prevented with a jab. I can also say that it’s hard for new parents to be objective, to say the least. You’re scared, sleep-deprived, and there’s advice/assvice coming at you from every side, on every imaginable subject – including whether or not to vaccinate. My assvice? Find yourself a pediatrician that you can talk to. Then listen to what they have to say. That will serve you well for a long time to come.**
Thanks to Rational Moms for the link.
*My mother’s family is from a rural area in western PA. We went to visit one of Mum’s cousins and her family while on vacation one summer. All 5 of the kids had pertussis – because they couldn’t afford to have their children vaccinated. There is no excuse for this now; the reason that people vaccinate is not because they cannot afford to, but they choose not to do so.
**Today, we had reason to be happy that School Girl was vaccinated against varicella. Her school sent her home because they suspected that she might have it; after visiting the doctor, the general consensus among all 3 adults who looked at her was it’s highly unlikely. Even if she does (and she’s far too active to suspect she’s ill), it could be a hell of a lot worse.
Now they’re finding out that the pertussis & measles / rubella vaccines that so many of us 40 somethings got when we were kids is now wearing off. I had a horrid crud last year that they treated as whooping cough because of that. You can get a booster if you get a tetnus shot for the pertussis, and they do have boosters for the measles one as well. I ended up getting one after I started working at the hospital, so it was free at least!
I had to get a measles booster when I was working in the public schools about, oh, 10 years ago. Didn’t realize that it would have worn off completely – that’s pretty scary. Just got my tetanus booster last year – I’ve been keeping that up to date since I started working with wool combs.
That’s really interesting. Just last week I had a friend of mine going off about vaccines causing autism – and as far as I know she doesn’t know any kids that have autism. I have four friends who have autistic sons and I don’t think it’s due to vaccines. Personally, I don’t want my kids at risk for something that they got because someone else was too self-absorbed to get their kids vaccinated.
Also, now they give kids Chicken Pox vaccinations. Maybe if I had had one, I wouldn’t have had shingles last year!
I know that autism is something very difficult to deal with and it would be great to be able to blame something like vaccines but it’s frustrating as hell when shown the facts these people act like it’s a huge conspiracy theory and the doctors are out to get us all. Wing nuts!
Elspeth: I can tell you that getting the varicella vaccine doesn’t mean you can’t get chicken pox, but it’ll be a lot milder. In fact, School Girl may possibly have chicken pox and has had both of the shots (initial and booster). We’re still not sure what it is – she’s not acting sick.
Erica: Wing nuts is the nicest description anybody could give those people. Thank you!
@Elspethe there is in fact a separate vaccine for shingles! I feel like it is limited in who it is indicated for, but science marches on.