A recent Around the Water Cooler question asked:
”
Now that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which adjudicates
claims filed under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation
Program, ruled for the fourth time since February 2009 that
vaccines are not responsible for autism, are you convinced?
”
I alone voted
”
no,
”
but 40 comments transpired over a two-day period.
By Linda McNulty
A recent Around the Water Cooler question asked: “Now that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which adjudicates claims filed under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, ruled for the fourth time since February 2009 that vaccines are not responsible for autism, are you convinced?”
I alone voted “no,” but 40 comments transpired over a two-day period. Clearly this is a sensitive issue and seems to be an appropriate topic since April is Autism Awareness Month.
Thimerosal is a mercury preservative that existed in the childhood immunization schedule up until five years ago. The FDA, Food and Drug Administration banned the mercury additive and since the removal of Thimerosal the incident of Autism has gone up from 1 in 155 to 1 in 110. Logically, this cannot be the cause alone.
However, let’s not ignore the “elephant in the room:” Most parents believe the CDC, IOM, FDA, Federal Courts, and National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program or “Vaccine Court,” have no intention of finding any correlation to vaccine induced autism. Can you imagine the impact if it was determined 1 in 110 families should be awarded compensation and if parents stopped vaccinating their children?
We should consider a parents perspective. Can you imagine if your child was speaking full sentences then became non-verbal after immunizations? During the vaccine court trial, plaintiffs provided videos proving that children with autism were meeting or exceeding developmental milestones at age 1, only to tumble into a wordless autistic world by age 2. The IOM, FDA, and vaccine court respond with: it’s coincidental.
What is concerning is that no studies have been done on the correlation between this susceptible group of children with autism and vaccines. Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the National Institutes of Health, states that current studies are inadequate. Additionally, 40 studies that show plausible causation of vaccine induced autism.
Other areas of concern are that the “Vaccine Court” has failed to test other vaccine ingredients, susceptibility, predisposition, and the vaccine schedule (how much and how frequent). To be more specific: 1) the study tested only one vaccine, MMR, and did not test multiple schedules or doses. 2) Studies did not include a comparison of vaccinated and unvaccinated American children. 3) Studies did not include appropriate American epidemiological studies.
Additional questions I hear from parents are: 1) Why did the FDA remove the Thimerosal if they really believed it was safe? 2) Why are there not 1 in 110 adults with Autism? I haven’t seen them. 3) Amish kids do not receive vaccinations and have no incidence of autism. (Former UPI editor, Dan Olmsted, did a study of the Amish and found only three cases of autism in Lancaster, Penn. All were in adopted children who had received their vaccinations prior to adoption). 4) Why do doctors tell pregnant woman to stay away from fish containing mercury but the FDA felt it was safe to inject mercury into an infant with a developing brain?
The range of the Autism spectrum is immense. Children with “Classic Autism” can be non-verbal and have very low cognitive abilities. Others, with HFA-High Functioning Autism, can be extremely intelligent but unable to maneuver the social and emotional world. They often have an odd capacity for genius but can be detached from reality.
Most people with autism in California are 3 to 18 years old. How will we address their needs as adults? The California Department of Developmental Services document California spent nearly $11,000 in 2007 on services for each child and young adult with autism. After age 21, those costs more than triple when the state starts paying for food, shelter, and transportation, expenses which were previously provided by parents.
How is California ever going to provide for the tidal wave of young autistic adults about to descend on social services?
Discouraging immunizations would be doing an enormous disservice to public health. If the government truly wants to put an end to the controversy they should do adequate studies.
One comment states: “Those silly parents are never going to accept it.” I beg to differ; they are knowledgeable well-informed parents. For every study indicating there is no causation for vaccine induced autism, there is another that suggests the contrary.
Linda McNulty is a Special Education Advocate and Graduate of the Special Education Advocate Training program offered by the Council of Parent Advocates and Attorneys, Office of Special Education Programs, and USC. She serves as a member of Senator Elaine Alquist’s Senate Select Committee for Autism and Board VP for TSSV.com – a nonprofit serving children with social cognitive deficits.
