Strollerderby : MMR

Mom Tells State Don't Make Me Vaccinate

JeanneSager — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:04:00 GMT

It's one of only two states that won't allow parents to use religion as an excuse to avoid vaccinating their kids, and now West Virginia is facing a lawsuit from a mom who says she doesn't want her six-year-old daughter to receive the shots.

Jennifer Workman says it's a "sacrilege" to expect her to vaccinate her daughter. But wouldn't you know, this so-called religious excuse is coming from a mom who claims vaccines cause autism.

I say so-called religion in this case because it sounds awfully convenient. Workman describes herself as "bapticostal," a mix of Baptist and Pentecostal religions, and she's asked a federal judge to overturn the state's demands that her daughter be immunized before attending public school based on religious freedom.

But her real problem? Her elder daughter, teenaged Susanna, has autism. And she's afraid of vaccinating Madison because she believes the vaccines are to blame. Never mind the long line of studies that have discredited that theory. That's only a small portion of the problem here - because Workman isn't presenting this as a medical case.

She's clearly using religion to push through her agenda. And she's not alone. Two years ago, Babble reported on a hike in religious dispensations being requested by parents who didn't want to vaccinate.

But where our forefathers were talking the right to assemble and pray to your own God (or G-d or Allah . . .), to circumcise your kids, to not eat pork, to string a cross around your neck, they were also talking about personal rights as they affect one person. They weren't, however, talking about excuses couched in religious belief that void the social contract. Just as ritualistic killings can not fall under the guise of religion because it's an express harm to others, an unvaccinated child walking into a school building is a public health risk. Allowing these types of dispensations only increases that risk.

Should kids in West Virginia be forced to bow to a mother's attempts to skirt the law?

Florida Dad Pushing To Ban ALL Thimerosal in Vaccines

JeanneSager — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:01:00 GMT

I'm already prepared for what "Dr. Gary" is going to say to this post.

Because the chiropractor friend of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and father of two autistic children isn't listening to anyone in his bid to have the state ban all vaccines that contain thimerosal.

All of them. Even those not administered to kids.

The proposal by Dr. Gary Kompothecras would be the strictest in the nation, and doctors say it would keep vaccines like the one that prevents the flu, from saving people most at risk of dying. Kompothecras's response? He calls everyone who dares disagree with them "dirt bags."

The argument over vaccines and autism is at an all-time fervor of late, spurred by last week's revelation by the London Times that the "study" that started all the hubub about autism and thimerosal back in the nineties was bogus. As in fabricated. Made up. Nonsense. Then came the report from a special court here in the states that says the measles vaccine didn't cause three children's autism. All of that was preceded by another study, this one in Italy, that determined thimerosal itself is safe.

What's concerned me most in the responses here on Babble to each reporting of these incidents is not that parents are concerned about autism or concerned about vaccines. That's natural. Autism is real. Autism is terrifying. And there is still a lot about vaccinations that we don't know.

It's the all-consuming nature of the focus on vaccinations. It's the refusal to home in on anything else. It's the assumption that disagreement means another parent doesn't care about your plight. We have written dozens of stories here on the 'Derby about other studies that have been linked to autism. The environment. Aged parents. Prematurity.

But there are still parents like Kompothecras who are blind to any other suggestions. Dare disagree with him, and he calls you a "dirt bag." The trouble is, they are not only doing a disservice to their own kids, but a disservice to other people. In Kompothecras' case, his proposed ban of the flu vaccine would put the thousands of Florida residents who are at highest risk for the flu - ie. the elderly, the asthmatic - at permanent risk. People die from the flu. But he doesn't care.

He is doing this because, as he told the Herald Tribune, "If I can do this, my son won't go down for nothing."

How can you argue with that? How can you argue with the parent of an autistic child who only wants an answer? Because I do believe autism is real. And I do believe that the parents of autistic children need an answer. The fact that I am pro-vaccination because I've seen it save lives does not mean I am unfeeling or that I refuse to see the forest for the trees. Autism diagnoses are up, and there are children in trouble. Somewhere, some scientist has to break this code.

But I don't see how taking the flu vaccine out of the hands of people who need it, people who choose to use it, is going to help the parents of autistic children. I don't see how ignoring existing science and accusing parents who are "pro-vax" of being "dirt bags" or "not caring," is going to provide an answer.

Might there be something else in a vaccination that might lead to autism? Maybe. There might also be a link in the environment. In aged parents. In prematurity.

So let's get started on those. Thimerosal is a dead horse. It doesn't deserve another beating.

Image: Herald Tribune

Special Court Says Vaccines Don't Cause Autism

Brett Singer — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:15:00 GMT

In a decision that will infuriate many parents (including readers of this web site), a special court has ruled that the MMR vaccine did not cause autism in three children.

Special Master George Hastings of the Department of Justice wrote that, "The evidence does not support the general proposition that thimerosal-containing vaccines can damage infants' immune systems." The ruling comes from The Vaccine Court Omnibus Autism Proceeding. (Aside: "Special Master"? "Omnibus"? It sounds like a comic book.)

Addressing one of the children whose parents say became autistic after receiving the MMR vaccine, Hastings said, "I further conclude that while Michelle Cedillo has tragically suffered from autism and other severe conditions, the petitioners have also failed to demonstrate that her vaccinations played any role at all in causing those problems."

There have been over 5,000 cases filed by parents seeking compensation from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a $2.5 billion fund that was created through a "75-cent-per-dose tax on vaccines," according to Reuters.

Everyone's least favorite vaccine guy Dr. Paul Offit hailed the decision, saying, "it's a great day for America's children when the court rules in favor of science." I think there are a few parents out there who will disagree with him.

Does this put the issue to rest? I doubt it. I myself am highly skeptical of the notion that vaccines "cause" autism, mostly because so far the studies that I have read about can't find a link between the vaccines and autism. Of course, it doesn't help the anti-vaccine movement's case that the doctor who conducted a landmark study on the matter faked his data.

I know that many of you have strong feelings on this issue. Does this court ruling change your opinion at all?

Source: Reuters

Image: USA Today via Babble

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Researcher Fabricated Autism Link in Vaccine

JeanneSager — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:01:00 GMT

The man who launched a decade's-long fear for parents heading to have their children vaccinated has been proven a forgery.

The Sunday Times revealed the results of an investigation today showing Andrew Wakefield, the man who posited that the MMR vaccine was at the root of the increased autism diagnoses, fabricated his research.

Published in 1998 in The Lancet, the study claimed eight out of twelve children vaccinated with the MMR innoculation began showing symptoms that fall somewhere on the autism spectrum within days of getting the shot. It was performed at the same time as another study, for which Wakefield was paid, that was supposed to help parents who believed there was a link between the two put up a legal case. Some of the kids were used in both studies, and Wakefield has often been accused of crossing a clear ethical boundary in performing both studies.

The study has borne numerous attacks over the years - in part because it included just twelve children - but it is the most-often quoted piece of evidence by parents who point a finger at pro-vax parents as risking their kids' lives (this despite studies published in the time period since that have debunked his story). The investigation by the Times is just another nail in the coffin for that line of thinking. The investigation revealed that in most of the twelve cases, the ailments described in Wakefield's published reports were different from their hospital and general practitioner records.

From the Times: "Although the research paper claimed that problems came on within days of the jab, in only one case did medical records suggest this was true, and in many of the cases medical concerns had been raised before the children were vaccinated."

I feel for parents of autistic children who are searching for a reason. Autism is very real and equally terrifying, but as a parent who has vaccinated her child, I have always bristled at the inference that I am a bad parent for making that choice - with so little evidence to support their claims.

Image: USA Today

AAP: Delayed Vaccines Too Risky for Kids

JeanneSager — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:24:00 GMT

Parents who have become wary of vaccinations for their children have been making the news for ahile now. But decisions by parents to simply delay vaccinating their kids seemed to have taken off this year.

It’s a trend that’s alarmed the American Academy of Pediatrics – enough to prompt the AAP to publish an article this week, along with its new vaccination guidelines, that strikes at the core of the delayed vaccine movement.

The movement got traction this year with sales of pediatrician Dr. Robert Sears’ book. The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child came out last fall, and calls for splitting up the MMR and chicken pox vaccinations.

“Theoretically, giving each shot separately may allow the immune system to create better immunity to the disease,” Sears says in a blog that complements the Amazon listing for the book. “Since the MMR and chickenpox vaccines are live viruses, injecting them all on the same day is like exposing a child to all four diseases at once. That doesn’t happen in nature, and I feel it is safer to ‘simulate’ these infections one at a time so a child can handle them better.”

The AAP’s article comes from the desk of Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who cites that break Sears says will allow the child’s body to heal may actually put a baby at further risk. What’s more, Offit says Sears developed his “delayed schedule” without any clinical trials to determine how effective or safe they might be for the kids.

"This alternative schedule may respond to parental anxiety at the price of keeping the baby susceptible to serious infectious diseases for a longer period of time," Offit notes.

Ironically, even Sears can’t say the delay is the best bet for baby.
In the same blog, he notes, “Now, I admit that this precaution is completely theoretical. I have no research to show that giving these four live virus vaccines together is dangerous. In fact, in safety research virtually all kids who get them together don’t have any apparent problems at all.”

Regardless, Sears stands behind his writings, and he says parents who are wary of going forward with the vaccination schedules put forth by their doctors would do better breaking them up than they would to eliminate vaccinations entirely. He is also supportive of parents going full bore with their vaccination plans – and following the AAP-approved schedule.

So who do you trust? Raised in a healthcare-heavy home, I’ve always been pro-vaccine myself, so I can hardly speak for the anti-vaccine crowd. But for those parents who are still on the fence, does the lack of clinical trials bother you? Or does Dr. Sears’ all-encompassing attitude give you faith that he’s got your kids’ best interests at heart?

Image: Amazon

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They Say -- Vaccines Work

Brett Singer — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 14:00:00 GMT

We do a lot of stories on Babble about the potential dangers of vaccines, and about people who are trying to raise awareness of those dangers. Nothing wrong with that. But sometimes it’s a good idea to show the other side of things.

A recent article in U.S. News and World Report points out that deaths from measles declined by 74 percent from 2000 to 2007. The article actually used the word "plunged", which for once was not hyperbole. A 74 percent drop is big. The data comes from a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, which stated that "the number of deaths fell from 750,000 to 197,000." In some countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Sudan) the drop was as high as 90 percent.

Now here's a stat to make you cringe – "worldwide child deaths from measles have dropped to 9.2 million," according to Ann M. Veneman of UNICEF.

What's cringeworthy about that? Later in the same article, Veneman puts it another way: "It is estimated that 500 children a day die of measles. This is an unacceptable reality when there is a safe and effective and inexpensive vaccine to prevent the disease." Unacceptable? No kidding.

While there are very few measles deaths in the United States, the disease is on the rise here, with 130 cases reported in 2008. Says U.S. News and World Report: "Almost half of these cases were among children whose parents declined vaccinations."

I wonder about that last line. "Almost half" implies that more than half of the cases were from vaccinated children – right? Which would seem to conclude that the vaccine is less than perfect. But let's look at it another way – the more parents refuse to allow their children to be vaccinated, the more measles cases there are, and so on. Is there a point when the potential dangers of vaccines outweigh the potential risks?

I feel strongly that the devil lies in the details – for example, is it possible to make vaccines without mercury, one of the substances many people feel is dangerous? Rather than a "vaccines or no vaccines" debate, we could have a debate about the particular vaccine itself. But that doesn't make for an easy headline.

The link to the U.S. News and World Report article was suggested by a commenter on this post by Hannah about a toddler who died after an MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccination. The parents blamed the vaccine for the 18 month old's death; the coroner's report later found "no link" between the tragic death and the vaccine. While stories like these can inspire parents to refuse to get their children vaccinated (regardless of what the coroner's report said), it is worth remembering that vaccines have enormous benefits as well as risks.

Source: U.S. News and World Report (Thanks to commenter gpgirl for the link.)

Image: helpyourautisticchildblog.com

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They Say: no link between autism and measles vaccine

Brett Singer — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:30:00 GMT

This news is unfortunately not likely to solve anyone's questions about whether or not vaccines are a cause of autism.

"Dr. W. Ian Lipkin of Columbia University, collaborating with a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Trinity College in Dublin, tackled the hot-button question: whether the MMR vaccine causes autism.

"'We are persuaded there is no link,' said Lipkin, director of the center on infection and immunity at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health in Manhattan."

HOWEVER…

"The study was not designed to address other rumored theories of autism's cause, such as thimerosal, the much-debated mercury-based preservative in some other vaccines, Lipkin said."

Now, as usual, the devil is in the details. The 1998 study that linked MMR vaccines to autism was based on a whopping 12 children. I'm no scientist (nor have I played one on TV) but that doesn't sound like a very large sample base.

For this new study, "Lipkin and colleagues searched for traces of genetic material linked to the virus in intestinal tissue taken from 25 children with autism and gastrointestinal problems. They compared the samples to those from 13 children without autism but with intestinal problems. In 24 of the group of 25 and in 12 of the 13, there was no evidence of viral persistence, leading researchers to conclude the vaccine did not cause autism or gastrointestinal problems." So it’s a larger group of kids. Not that many, but on the surface it sounds more valid.

HOWEVER…

Why not do a study on thimerosal, which contains, as Jenny McCarthy calls it, "frickin' mercury"? Wouldn't that be, like, actually useful?

In theory, this study will put to rest parents' fears about this particular vaccine. Of course, as the great Homer Simpson once said, communism works -- in theory. In other words, I doubt this news will do anything to change anybody's mind one way or the other.

source: Newsday

image: timesonline.typepad.com

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Autism on the Rise, New Report Says

Karen Murphy — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 13:19:00 GMT

According to new statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 in 150 children have some form of autism, up from previous estimates ranging from 1 in 500 to 1 in 166. The new figures were compiled from school and medical records from children in fourteen states across the U.S. The CDC has no explanation for the rise in prevalance in autism, now estimated to affect 560,000 children across the country, but this article and others I have read over the years suggest that it is tied to increases in vaccinations. Specifically, the MMR vaccine given at the age of 15 months seems linked to the onset of autism in many children. This theory has proved inconclusive, however, and remains refuted by the CDC.

At any rate, the sheer numbers now of children and their families experiencing various effects of autism is staggering. Overall, some 17 percent of U.S. children have some form of developmental disability. It is time to accept these facts and to move toward social policies of inclusion and acceptance, as well as education and life enhancement not only for the children, but for their caregivers as well. No longer can these people be hidden behind closed doors, not when they represent almost 1/5 of the population.