Vaccinations and Autism

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Well, this is going be controversial but I can't let the news reports just run on without my input!
The topic that was on a news story this morning was about Autism being caused by vaccines. I have a lot to say about this, but I will put it this way - you be the judge!

Point 1 - I have 3 boys; 19, 18, 9 -

• the oldest was vaccinated according to pretty much the whole schedule
• the middle and youngest were not - my little sister started investigating because of her autistic son and with her findings came my objections and inevitable withdrawal from the 'program'

Point 2 - While I fought the fight, I did give in on my youngest at one point and had him vaccinated when he was in preschool.

• My oldest has fought ADD all of his life and has had to overcome great learning difficulties - a lot of what we see in our current generation
• Middle son has above-average intelligence and has consistently impressed his teachers, casual contacts, and friends' parents. He has only done poorly through the years because of educators holding him back or just being 'bored' through lack of challenge.
• Youngest has a few behavioral and social issues but has been overcoming them recently in leaps and bounds due to his ability, finally, to reason out the cause and affects of his actions. He is constantly sought after for the Gifted & Talented programs. He had an I.Q. of 140 at 8 years old and is currently working on math that is far above grade level. His vocabulary is unsurpassed and leaves most he comes in contact with speechless.

I am just stating facts here - nothing I'm going to write or have written in this post is based on my mother's bias. If I feel anything about my children, it is that they could do better, make better choices, and behave better. Especially Austin - I feel that his level of emotional i.q. is very high in some instances but he seems to lack the ability to truly care for anyone or anything - animals have endured a lot at the hands of this little 'monster' and he has truly scared me many times with his inability to feel other's pain. His extreme intelligence only feeds his ability to thwart others and get out the things he should have consequences for. He 'outsmarts' his dad 10 to 1 and if I didn't know better, I'd say he'd learned from masters such as 'Eddie Haskell' of "Leave it to Beaver" fame. He is, as I stated above, starting to overcome this behavior flaw, but it's been tough for him and I.

Point 3 - Most of the proponents of vaccinating your children are sponsored, or are in some way affiliated, with the drug-producing companies.

• On the NBC News Show this morning, the reporter asked the doctor, "You created the latest vaccine that is now part of the CDC Schedule and are making billions of dollars from this. How can we believe your view is unbiased when you have so much to lose by these implications being proven right?" He replied that his only interest is that of the health of the children, including his own. hummm
• Most of the proponents have a GREAT deal to lose if we no longer vaccinate our children.
• Schools are badgered into forcing parents to vaccinate their children or face expulsion or denial of entry.
• Almost all, I can't find any that would, of the opponents to vaccinations have nothing to gain from their battle so why are they fighting so hard - even to the point of risking their own lives and those of their loved ones as well?

I think it's time for us all to do our research. Autism is at a record high; 1 out of every 150 children are being diagnosed every day with this horrible disease and we owe it to them to make informed decisions! I chose to not vaccinate because I believe there's enough out there to cause us to 'error on the side of safety' rather than just 'do as we're told'...
Below is a copy of the correspondence I had with one of the largest opponents to vaccination - take what you will from it -
I feel that I owe it to my nephew and my little sister(rest in peace my dear one!) to carry on her legacy of questioning what's best for our children and to not blindly vaccinate my babies!

" Hello Dr. Miller,

I read your page with great interest as my little sister(now deceased) spent nearly all of 8 years trying to find the reason for her son being plagued with Asperger's Syndrome. At the time of her death in 2006 she was completely convinced that immunizations were the cause and fought to get this recognized. All of the points that you made in your article were like an echo of her 'findings' and I was very impressed to hear a doctor speak of these things!

Because of her passion and desperation to help her son, who was an extremely intelligent boy until around the age of 3 when he started showing signs of this disease; he became anxious and fearful of various things, such as faces and other children, and would write certain numbers over and over until, to him, they were 'perfect' and other such strange obsessions, she became very educated in the 'disease' of Autism, focusing primary on the Asperger's Syndrome strain. She worked tirelessly telling other parents and doctors about the effects of Mercury and thimerosal and only found groups of people that were against all that she was saying and asking about, because she was just a mother.

I wish she could've read your article as it has closed any doubts I may have had! Thank you for the very interesting and educational post!

I am writing you to tell you what I came across just now when looking for an immunization schedule. I was appalled at what I read and am sending a link to it so that you may read it too!! What an eye-opening article you've written and I appreciate your frankness in the face of such controversy! Here's the link to a very popular 'parent' website where they are openly opposed to the studies on this - http://kidshealth.org/PageManager.jsp?dn=KidsHealth&lic=1&article_set=24786&cat_id=164&&ps=106

Thank you in advance for reading all of this - I don't usually write people I don't know, but I was compelled to say 'bravo' to you! and send this link..."

This was written in response to his article, "A User-Friendly Vaccination Schedule by Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD" He also sent me a very interesting link - http://sayingnotovaccines.blogspot.com/ that you can research with if you're interested...

So, the 'ball's in your court' - what will you do? nothing, thinking that the Government knows best, or check out for yourself every viable piece of information you can get your hands on? We owe it to our kids to protect them and keep them safe :0)

with love,
Freida