Since 1998, there has been a growing movement against vaccines because a suspected link to autism. The movement was started stemming from a research conducted by Dr. Wakefield, but was a flawed study since he was paid to advise lawyer representing parents that suspected a link between vaccines and autism.
Today, however, Dr. Wakefield was banned from practicing medicine in Britain. Even more interesting, this man has a medicine practice in Austin, Texas since 2004, but has quit this year.
My heart goes out to the families that are dealing with children with autism, because I too have a relative with autism, however, I do not believe there’s a link between vaccines and autism. The problem with the movement though, is that it is directly related to many children not being vaccinated and has lead to outbreaks of diseases that were thought to be eradicated, namely measles, mumps and rubella.
The vaccines in question have been given for many years, but there is no proven correlation between the vaccines and autism, besides speculation. In fact, there has been many other studies done proving that there is no link, and it is indeed safe to vaccinate infants to protect against debilitating infections.
I’ve discussed the concept of herd immunity before, and have done several articles about the topic of vaccinations, but I’m scared that other people’s decisions can still negatively effect my family and child and others because the body may have not fully developed an immunity to a disease that some other un-vaccinated child has been exposed to.
The risk of contracting infections is increasing, the concept of herd immunity is being decimated or not even heard of, and this is only hurting our youngest, most vulnerable members of our society, those that we are supposed to protect. Dr. Wakefield’s research indeed has done damage, and Britain was right to ban him from medicine because his research was unethical; his research was directly related to diseases (mumps) from Britain to the U.S causing illness in people that had been vaccinated, and mostly among those that had not been.
What do you think? Do you think that it was right for Dr. Wakefield to be banned from practicing medicine? Should vaccines be compulsory, or just a recommendation that parents can opt out of?
~Hale Mom
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I think that this is such a tough topic. I give Ian every shot that the FDC rec. that he needs at the time they say he should get it.
I agree, it is a tough topic, but I believe it is something that needs to be discussed since it is affecting the health of not just kids in the UK, it’s affecting kids in our own country. This man is somewhere in the U.S. too. It’s good that you get Ian vaccinated; he will benefit from it. I was weary of giving my daughter her shots at first since I heard all the talk about vaccinations and autism, but then I decided that the benefits far outweighed the risks.
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