Our topic of the week is Autism, which means I get to get on my favorite soapbox: vaccines and Autism. There is no link between childhood vaccines and the development of Autism. Let me repeat that: vaccines DO NOT cause Autism. This is not simply my opinion; it is fully backed by sound scientific evidence.
Let us first examine the retracted Wakefield study. Published in 1998, Andrew Wakefield examined 12 children for cognitive symptoms of Autism and gastrointestinal disorders, with the goal to link these symptoms to something in the environment that they were all exposed to. There are some obvious initial flaws of the paper, without even reading more than the abstract. First, Wakefield had a sample size of just 12 children, with no negative controls. Any results or statics from a group this small are simply speculative and cannot be taken as scientifically sound conclusions. Of these 12 participants, 11 were male. Looking at the demographics reported by the CDC, it is clear that boys are statically more likely than girls to be diagnosed with Autism (1 in 42 in boys and 1 in 189 in girls). It is likely that Wakefield knew this and took advantage of this trend when selecting an almost exclusively male sample, knowing that by doing this, he would increase his likelihood of having children with Autism present in the study. Secondly, the symptoms were reported to the researchers by the parents of the children, not by trained medical professionals. While parents know their child and their child’s behavior better than anyone else, they are not equipped to make a medical diagnosis.
After the publication of the Wakefield paper, the scientific community began to examine their findings to validate them and expand on them, which is what often happens with new findings in the scientific community. First, other groups of researchers were unable to replicate Wakefield’s findings, something that is critical in scientific research. In fact, Wakefield himself was unable to replicate his own findings, with a different group of participants. Next, Wakefield failed to disclose a critical conflict of interest. He had been paid by a law firm that was planning on suing the makers of the MMR vaccine. This fact alone is enough to cast reasonable doubt to the validity of his claims. Additionally, according to journalist Brian Deer, Wakefield was accused of, “falsifying medical histories of children and was essentially concocting a picture, which was the picture he was contracted to find by lawyers hoping to sue vaccine manufactures and to create a vaccine scare.” He also failed to disclose that he had been developing an MMR vaccine that would be a direct competitor to the one that he claimed had been causing Autism.
Perhaps most concerning was Wakefield’s treatment of his subjects, all children who may have developmental disabilities, making them particularly vulnerable. First, he paid children for their blood samples they provided, off the record and without providing them or their guardians with informed consent forms. He also subjected his subjects to colonoscopies, lumbar punctures, and other medical procedures, without the approval from an institutional review board (which is illegal). These review boards are critical in evaluating research protocols and protecting the rights and safety of the participants. The tests that the subjects were subjected to would be traumatizing for any young child, but particularly so for subjects with developmental disabilities.
After a 2004 investigation by the Sunday Times, the majority of Wakefield’s co-authors removed their names from the paper. In January of 2010, an independent panel investigated the paper and found Wakefield guilty of dishonesty and the abuse of developmentally disabled children. The Lancet retracted Wakefield’s paper and his medical license was revoked soon after.
Now, lets pretend that vaccines cause Autism (they don’t). One causal agent that popular media likes to flaunt is mercury. Thimerosal, a mercury derivative that used to be used in vaccines as a preservative. Without this preservative, bacteria could grow in vaccines, which could be deadly to the recipient. It is important to understand that timerosal contains a form of mercury called ethylmercury. Unlike methylmercury, which is the form of mercury that damages the nervous system, ethylmercury is broken down by the body and is safely and quickly excreted from the body. Strict, valid, and stringent scientific research has shown that ethylmercury is not harmful to the body and vaccines with thimerosal do not cause Autism. Not convinced by the science? Thimerosal was removed from all vaccines, except a few types of flu shots between 1999 and 2001. Even if thimerosal was causing the development of Autism (it wasn’t), it is no longer even in our vaccines anymore.
So what does cause Autism? How can parents protect their children? Researchers are still working to figure that out. It appears that there is both an environmental factor and a genetic factor. It may have something to do with the levels of zinc and copper in our bodies, or perhaps the types of bacteria we harbor in our gut, or even maternal infection or antibodies during fetal development. It is understandable that parents want to do everything they can for their child to avoid harm, sickness, or disability. Autism is unavoidable but vaccine preventable diseases can be avoided with a safe and effective vaccine. I’m not a parent, but I know which choice I would make for my child, and in the face of insurmountable scientific evidence, I would choose the vaccine any day.
The Great Debate: Vaccines and Autism
