...Healthy Heresy: Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism According to a study done by Public Health Reports, of the parents who delay or refuse vaccinations for their children 57% said their reason for not vaccinating their children was fear of autism (Levs 4). Since the speculation of a causal relationship of vaccinations and Autism began the world has seen some of the most threatening outbreaks of diseases that would have been preventable with the use of vaccines ("The End of the Vaccines Cause Autism Myth." 2). Is it the vaccines causing the problem, or the overprotective parents that are endangering their child and many other people’s children? Parents who do not trust science for vaccinations continue to trust science for other ways such as “to...
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...articles, there are common topics that are featuring in all the articles. The relationship between autism and the MMR vaccine appears in all the articles. Dr. Andrew Wakefield appears to be the driving force behind the concept. In the articles, suggestions by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that there might be an association between autism and MMR vaccine are recurring. Wakefield’s ideas have also been labeled as fraud with intent to commit deliberate fraud. Wakefield’s studies have also been withdrawn and we can see further that he is later denied the right to practice medicine in England. This is evident in the various articles. In the article by Michael Wilrich (2011), “how the pox incident changed vaccination rules,” we see that Dr. Wakefield’s report in the medical journal, The lancet, which suggested on the possibility between the MMR and vaccination, was discredited and debunked. According to Wilrich, (2009), “The Lancet withdrew the study in 2010. Later in 2011, the study was labeled a deliberate fraud (Wilrich, 2011). In the article, anatomy of scare, Begley, (2009), Dr. Wakefield is still adamant about the relationship between the vaccine and autism. Suggesting that the vaccine damaged the intestines allowing harmful proteins to leak into the blood system where they caused neurons damage. Wakefield was adamant, “it is a resolved.” In the articles much is talked about on the relationship between vaccine and autism but it has not been scientifically proven to substantiate the claims. Parents...
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...Do Childhood Vaccinations Cause Autism? Jennifer Jones XBCOM / 275 August 24, 2014 Kristine Dunn Do Childhood Vaccinations Cause Autism? The idea that autism is caused by childhood vaccinations has been influencing public policy, even though rigorous studies do not support this hypothesis. Legislators are right to take into account the concerns of parent groups and other individuals who are directly affected by autism, but policy decisions should be based on hard evidence rather than unproven ideas. The hypothesis is based on the observation that the number of autism cases increased in the years of the 1980s, coinciding with a push for greater childhood vaccinations, which increased above recommended levels of a child’s exposure to mercury in the vaccine preservative, called thimerosal. The autism diagnosis continued to rise even after thimerosal was removed from the United States childhood vaccines in the year of 2001. A review by the Institute of Medicine, of over 200 studies concluded that there were no links between vaccines containing thimerosal and autism. Autism is no more common among vaccinated children than those children who are unvaccinated, and its incidence has not varied with the presence of thimerosal in vaccines across different times and locations. These findings have not persuaded supporters of the mercury autism link, whose strategies have become more extreme as the evidence against the hypothesis have mounted. Mercury is a known neurotoxin,...
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...Autism Spectrum Syndrome is a term used to describe abnormalities in neurological and brain developments. People affected by Autism suffer a wide range of symptoms with varying severities. Autism is characterized by symptoms such as social impairments, difficulties in emotional connection and communication, and repeated stereotyped behaviors such as hang flapping and rocking (as cited in Uno, Y., Uchiyama, T., Kurosawa, M., Aleksic, B, and Ozaki, N, 2012). Since the discovery of the fist vaccines up until now, thousands of lives have been saved. Contagious diseases speared so rapidly and the effects can be devastating and sometimes irreversible. Infectious diseases spread quickly in communities; in the past some of these diseases effected large...
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...Gregory Carter Comp II Mr. Best Final Paper Is there a link between vaccines and Autism? For many years now there has been an intense debate over the link between the cause of Autism and vaccinations. Since its appearance in the medical community the cause has come under much scrutiny. Research has been conducted by many leading scientist, always to be debunked by skeptics worldwide. The historic timeline for Autism always seems to correlate to an outbreak in new treatments and vaccinations. Some communities worldwide do not receive vaccinations and have no symptoms of Autism within their population, while there are others that do receive them and show no symptoms either. Based on these factors, one cannot surely believe there if there is a link between vaccines and Autism. Although Autism has become more common today than in the past, it is still very much misunderstood. Many people think that it is a disease, something contagious however it is a disorder, not a disease. There are many forms of Autism, labeled in the Autistic spectrum disorder, however it is a very complex disorder that affects the brain, and the immune system (A Medical mystery 2). The severity varies from child to child but the symptoms are pretty typical ranging from social skills, sensory issues, to slurred speech and uncontrollable body movements. It affects children of all ages but most commonly diagnosed around the age of three (2). The disorder crosses all economic and social boundaries, however...
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...Modern medicine provides people with the ability to protect themselves from the world’s most fatal diseases. Merely a century ago, it was not uncommon for a child to die as a result of diseases such as polio, pertussis, and tuberculosis. Today, it is highly unlikely for a person to contract these diseases, let alone die from them. However, refusal of vaccinations has been increasing throughout the years due to the anti-vaccination movement. This movement declares mandatory vaccines unconstitutional and vaccinations overall as the cause of autism. Unfortunately, the anti-vaccination movement is becoming increasingly popular due to individuals’ unfounded fears and imagined consequences associated with the idea of purposely inserting a disease into one’s body. However, despite one’s beliefs, vaccines are essential not only to a person’s well-being, but to the health of those around them. Mandatory vaccinations do not cause autism; rather, they save lives while upholding values of...
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...Vaccines are designed to produce immunity. Viruses in the vaccine cannot reproduce itself or cause diseases because they are made by killing or weakening them. Vaccines are given from the time of infancy. It helps in protecting the body against diseases in the future. Autism Spectrum Disorder, by definition, occurs before age 3 (Miller et al., 2009). It was during the 20th century, it was said that ASD occurred due to the ingredients in the vaccination given to the children. Although, more research and studies have changed the conversation about the effects of vaccines on autism to be more positive based on the history of vaccines, the ingredients in it such as thimerosal, and Wakefield’s fraud study. Starting by talking about the history...
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...Professor Perez ENGL102 8 November 2015 The Anti-Vaccination Movement Over the last 30 years, the number of vaccine-preventable diseases has increased substantially. This is due to a rising number of “anti-vaxxers” spreading misinformation “that vaccines are actually ineffective, useless, or even dangerous” (Kata 3778). The internet and other forms of mass media have steered parents to believe these claims and it has had devastating results. It has been proven by scientists for hundreds of years that the use of vaccinations greatly outweighs the risk of not getting them. The research shows that the claim that vaccines cause autism or any other disease cannot be substantiated by any scientific evidence and therefore, should not be entertained under any circumstances. The background of the anti-vaccination movement is an old one. The United Kingdom’s Vaccination Act of 1853 is a good example of this. The act required parents to vaccinate their children for small pox at three months or risk life in prison. This is a harsh punishment for the parents, but considering the millions of deaths that small pox has caused world-wide, lawmakers at the time considered it a just penalty. “The anti-vaccination movement experienced a steady decline from the turn of the century up to the 1970's” (Kasarda 548). After the 1970’s there was a resurgence in the anti-vaccination movement. This is due to research from a group of authors working at London Hospital. “M. Kulenkampf, J.S. Schwartzman...
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...A big topic up for debate is whether or not vaccinations can cause Autism. Autism is a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts. Typically autism can be detected form age 18-24 months. By this time most vaccines required for young children have taken place, one of the main reasons parents think vaccines cause autism. Developmental specialist usually pick up on the signs at younger ages, before the parents begin to notice anything out of the ordinary. There are measurable differences in the brain function and structure of children with and without autism. “Starting in the first six months of life, many autistic...
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...got vaccinated before and never will.” That’s what one of my colleagues said when he was asked to get vaccinated during the outbreak of SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, few years ago in Mongolia. Then, I had reasoned him that disease comes all of a sudden and it is more serious than he thinks. As reported on CDC, Centers for Disease Control, 40 percent of all American parents were refusing one or more vaccines for their children (Willrich 3). So it is clearly one of the most significant public health issues today. There are lots of people who hold the belief against vaccination because of several reasons. Even though there is a public notion that vaccine has bad effects on human body, I strongly believe that vaccinating is the most crucial and effective way to keep people healthy by preventing future diseases and it also helps people to avoid spreading out the infectious diseases. Therefore, vaccination should be mandatory. First of all, I believe that the precaution of future disease should be imposed. People need to get vaccinated to improve their immune system to avoid future diseases and they need to be responsible for their safety. According to Michael Willrich, an internationally recognized historian, the contagious disease called smallpox spread out across the country at the turn of the 20th century. It is one of the deadliest diseases in human history that killed twenty five to thirty percent of all those whom it infected and most survivors were permanently disfigured...
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...Vaccines are a preventative medication to confer immunity against one or several diseases. Vaccinations stimulate a response in the immune system that will protect the individual from the targeted disease. This is achieved from injecting a patient with an antigenic variation of the disease or a synthetic substitute. Vaccines are considered as one of the greatest medical achievements and are responsible for the world-wide eradication of smallpox. Although child immunisations are effective in prevention of disease, some parental concerns persist that vaccines may cause autism. Three specific proposals for this cause include; the vaccine for measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) and a toxic preservative named thimerosal. This essay will investigate both...
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...diseases, let alone die from them. However, refusal of vaccinations has been increasing throughout the years. This is due to individual’s unfounded fears and imagined consequences associated with the idea of purposely inserting a disease into one’s body. Despite one’s beliefs, vaccines are essential not only to a person’s well-being, but to the health of those around them. Mandatory vaccinations do not cause autism; rather, they save lives while also...
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...Exploratory Essay To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate Vaccines were brought to the United States by Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse in 1800. (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia) Dr. Waterhouse pushed for public vaccinations to eradicate the small pox epidemic through community immunity. “Community immunity” or “herd immunity” is where a significant percentage of the population is immune to a disease, either through vaccination or prior illness, so the spread of the disease is unlikely. ( National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases). Since 1800, many vaccines have been developed including the polio vaccine by Dr. Salk in 1954. With massive polio vaccinations since 1954, eradication of the disease was declared in 1994 in the Americas. However nowadays there are many groups that believe vaccines are doing more harm than good. A recent perceived rise in autism rates and the push for more vaccines during infancy has caused some parents and researchers to believe there is a relationship between the vaccines and autism. Out of concern for safety of their children, some parents are choosing not to vaccinate or alter the government recommended vaccination schedule. Many doctors agree with government schedules for vaccinations and relate them to the elimination and reduction of diseases such as polio, measles, mumps, pertussis and more. This essay will explore the positions of parents, researchers and physicians regarding vaccines against disease. Most parents evaluate...
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...methods of vaccinations was known as, variolation (Nazarko, 2013). Variolation was popular in China as well as other countries in the Middle East during the 10th century. Asians and Middle Eastern people collected samples of dry tissues from the scabs of smallpox survivors and would put it into healthy people’s bodies. The process of variolation consisted of making a wound on a person’s arm and inserting the dry tissues scabs in the wound to contract the virus and obtain...
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