Vaccinations and Autism

No sons here... but I have two daughters. One we gave only a couple immunizations, including the Salk's polio (was hard to find) and Mumps and Measles (no Rubella). The other daughter we gave no vaccinations. One is now in College, one a Senior in High School - both healthy. For "school requirements" we listed it as a religious preference. If I had to do it all again, I would give both girls NO immunizations.

My son 2.5 years was pre-diagnosed with Autism. I went through a dramitic emotional roller coaster with that diagnosis. One book did help me to relate-- Jenny McCarthy's book-- with her son's Autism. She did everything she could for her child to be normal. We had my son re-tested for hearing and Autism and it was a mis-diagnosis. As relived as I am that he doesn't have Autism, I also feel for the mother's who let the doctor vaccinate thier children without the proper knowledge of what is in the vaccine. I have not let my 11 month old be vaccined as of yet until he becomes older and his immune system is more developed. Good luck.

Good Morning!

I have a 3 1.2 year old daughter and she has never been vaccinated. I would love to share some websites with great information for you to be able to make the best decision for you and your child.

http://www.momsagainstmercury.org/

http://www.vaclib.org/exemption.htm

http://www.vaclib.org/exemption.htm

http://www.vaccinetruth.org/

http://www.vaccinationnews.com/

http://www.mercola.com/2007/jan/2

Clearly, I am an advocate for no vaccinations. If you ever want to talk, you can always email me anytime.

Always in good health and peace,

We have chosen to slow down the vaccines. We only give our daughter one shot at a time. Vaccines are important but we feel that their little bodies are overloaded with the vaccines and they cannot handle it. Slowing them down has worked very well for us. We also opted not to do the 1 (MMR) yet. We will push that one forward until after her 2nd birthday and longer if we can. The MMR has a lot of controversy around it and a lot of parents have seen a change in their children after that shot. Find a pediatrician who is willing to break up the shots and slow down the process. For us it is a good compromise.

I am a speech therapist and a mom of an 11 month old boy. Although the vaccination theory is still unproven, and after having worked with many children with autism, we are spacing out the vaccinations for my child in order to prevent bombarding his system. According to our pediatrician, the vaccination schedule seems to be organized this way because "that is the way they have always done it". I would say trust your own instincts and make priorities based on what you think is best for your child! Delaying vaccinations is common for many families. Good luck

There is a really good book called The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears. It provides a lot of information about vaccines that will help you make an informed decision. At a minimum I would recommend that your son be VERY healthy when you take him in for vaccination. No colds, not just finishing up a round of medications. The vaccine schedule is SO compressed into the early months, you don't need to be in a real hurry. If he is late by several months it is not really going to be a problem. Do your homework.
J. (mom of 15 yo w autism)

I have a 6 month old son who hasn't received any vaccinations yet. We have tried to do lots of research and it's really difficult to find anything that's not highly biased. My instinct however, has led me to at least delay the vaccinations rather than bombard a young immune system with all the recommended vaccines. It's a tough issue, and everyone has to do what they feel best about, but I'm uncomfortable with the ever-growing list of vaccinations. I just feel like it's excessive to vaccinate for everything, yet I want to be responsible and make sure my child and others' children are protected against disease in general. Anyway, just a few things to think about...hope my ramblings are somewhat helpful! All the best -

Hi there!

I have a 3.5 year old son and a 7 month old daughter. Like you, I have heard a lot about the relationship of vaccine and autism and didn't want to take a chance by giving my kids too many shots at once. Like 8-10 shots for a 2 month old!! Please!!! For my son, and daughter now, I took him every 2 weeks (pretty much of his first year!) to get one shot at a time. Kaiser will do that for you. It is inconvenient for them, but in the public health interest, they will do the one at a time. Just be sure to keep going back and be consistent.

Also, Kaiser will separate out the MMR shot at 1 year, the one commonly tied to autism. I went one month for Measles, the next for mumps, and the third for Rhubella for my son and plan to do the same for my daughter at one year.

For more reading, check out Dr. Stephanie Cave's book on "What your dr. may not tell you about Children's Vaccinations". Very interesting reading! And helped guide me in my vaccination decisions.

Good luck to you and hope you can find a health care provider who will work with you.

We are sure the vaccines made our son lots worse. If I had it to do over again I would not vaccinate. Good luck in your decision.

I gave my son all of the pediatrician recommended vaccines and recently asked my doctor about the correlation. He said they have done numerous studies that show NO LINK, and the diseases are far more dangerous if gone unvaccinated. With the rise in Autism many people are grasping at straws to pin it on something.

I am the mom of a 4 1/2 year old boy, born 6 weeks premature (3lbs. 15"). He has had all of his vaccinations and is healthy/happy.

I have two boys, one 16 and one 11, both have had all of their immunizations including some that were brand new. Just to put your mind at ease, both are normal red blooded boys, my oldest is a scholar athlete at his high school and the other is a great football player and an above average student. I am not a firm believer in the immunizations causing autism. Their are children in other countries that have autism with no immunizations.

C.

Nhivan,

I don't have a son but 2 daughters. I just wanted to give you my input as a mother. Your gonna get some people who are against it and some who are for the shots. What really and all that matters is what you feel. That is the most important thing. Go with your instinct as a "mother" there is no wrong or right answer. What ever happens will happen there are things beyond our control. You can however prevent it by the decisions you make. That's all that matters. Good luck.

I.

It is the thimerosal (mercury based preservative) in some vaccines (DTP and flu, I think) that people are concerned about. I thought that thimerosal has been removed from MOST vaccines due to the controversy (I think flu vaccine still contains it). Ask your doctor which vaccines have it. One option is to have the DTP separated into 3 non-thimerosal vaccines if you're worried about it.

Autism is very complex and no single cause has been proven. However, if some kids are at risk, why add a poison into their system? I was ignorant of the thimerosal controversy when my son was vaccinated. I believe in vaccines (many of the diseases that we vaccinate against are killers), but don't think we should put mercury in them.

Good luck.

I have an autistic daughter, now 9 years old. She has Aspergers (highly intelligent autism) which means she is super smart: in 2nd grade, she scored on the 12th grade level for math and language on her SAT's, but her overactive brain causes her to rage. Her symptoms started at 3 years old. When I looked at the immunization cards of both kids, I was able to see that my autistic child was injected in the timeframe of the mercury vaccines. They stopped giving the mercury-filled vaccines two months after she received her injections. She was very sick after the vaccines, with high fever. It made me cry to bring a healthy baby to the doctor and a day later see a sick child with a fever! The doctor said it was normal. My younger daughter, with mercury-free vaccines, does not have the illness. My understanding is that some doctors still give mercury shots, including the flu shots, because they are using up the "existing supply." You can actually REQUEST a mercury-free flu shot, but you have to know that it exists and make the request.

While the proven cause of autism is still debated, there are many theories about genetics, vaccines and mercury in our environment. As long as the theory exists, I would not expose my child to mercury in any form: dental fillings, mercury vaccines or lead in the home. If a family member has ADHD, addictions or mental health conditions, you are genetically at greater risk.

We are watching the court cases very closely. Doctors and drug makers insist that there is no vaccine risk, because if they admitted a risk, we would all have a claim against them. They have high priced lawyers, we have ill children and huge medical bills. Look ay any autism website, and you will find all of them reference the vaccine theory.

Nhivan,
My 2 year old son was not given his Vaccinations on schedule.
He was behind in a few of the ones he needed until we needed to place him in Daycare.
I didn't let them do the bunch of shots they want to do at once due to me not knowing what type of reaction he might have. So I made sure they gave only 1 shot at a time.
I was worried about vaccinations on boys as well, but I felt he also needed to be vaccinated but just not in the same doses they wanted to do it. They like to give a bunch of shots at one time. My husband was very against our son having shots at all and especially at such a young age, Something about the mercury in the vaccinations.

I also think it's a preference on the parents and if you are going to be having your child in day care, It's hard to find a place to bring your child that will accept without vaccinations.
I am lucky I have my son in a wonderful home with a family friend that loves him to pieces.

Good luck and go with your heart.

My son is 17 and was diagnosed with Autism at age 2. There is a lot of answers here and I'm sure they will help you decide but I wanted to address the issue regarding the school district not allowing your child to attend if you choose not to vaccinate. That is false. Your Pediatrician can provide written authorization to your district regarding this issue. Also, there are many reports documenting a link between toxicity (mercury in vaccines / thimerosol used as a preservative, etc.) and autism. When my son was diagnosed, it was 1 in 10,000 could be effected, now it's 1 in 150? To put this into perspective, imagine if one child out of every 150 died, wouldn't that be an epidemic? There is a cause, it's up to us Parents to decide through education and awareness what is best for our children. Good luck to you. It is a daunting journey at times, but the triumphs are almost indescribable.

:) M., very proud mother of 4 and a grand child on the way.
My other children do not have autism.

You should absolutely vaccinate your son...I am the mother of a 5 1/2 year old son, who has had *all* his vaccines and has never shown any sign of autism or even discomfort...the fact of the matter is that your son will not be allowed into any elementary school without being up-to-date with his vaccines - a serious disadvantage for him when it comes to getting a good education. As today's world gets smaller and smaller each year, it is imperative we use our knowledge and medical understanding to protect not only our children, but the children with whom our kids interact.
Just my two cents.

Nhivan-

Dr. Sears just wrote a book called "The Vaccine Book". I just finished reading it after picking it up from the library. I highly recommend it, mainly because it discusses the concerns about autism, mercury, etc., but he also explain the pros, the disease history, how severe of a disease it is, and he also proposes an alternative vaccination schedule.

Delaying some of the vaccines makes sense. We delayed 2 ourselves. On the other hand, some of the diseases are most severe when the child is an infant or toddler.

A lot of the stuff about DTP, mercury, etc. that I read on the "anti-vax" websites were outdated, according to what I read in this book. It was just released at the end of 2007, and it is very up to date.

BTW - they don't give the DTP vaccine anymore. They switched it to DTaP, so the side-effects and issues were addressed with a new vaccine.

** Re: the vaccine schedule is the way it always was.
NOT true. Some vaccines, like the varicella, was not even common or "recommended" until 2006!! Mainly due to the burden on parents for staying home with the child, economic loss, etc. The condensed, multi-vax doses were done to make it "convenient" for the parents, also to increase vaccination rates by making it more convenient.

Mercury was essentially banned, so that is less of an issue. Aluminum is still widely used. There is some legacy with mercury you have to watch out for.

I would pick up Dr. Sears book. It is very informative and up to date without a "YOU MUST VACCINATE" or a "VACCINATIONS ARE ALL BALONEY" sort of slant. After doing some independent reading (and I do have a science/engineering background and 4 years of graduate work), I'm leary of the vaccine schedule but NOT vaccines.

Re: Your kid cannot enter school without vaxes-
This is NOT true. California has a law in place where the parent can sign an affidavit saying they elected to not have their children have one, some, or all the vaxes for philosophical reasons. http://www.nvic.org/state-site/California.htm

Many states have religious exemptions, some have the same exemption California has. This only applies to public schools however. Private schools can abide by a different policy. Universities tend to be even more strict, since they are already battling STDs.

You are correct, there is no scientific evidence that vaccines and Autism are realated. Yes, there are people out there searching for answers that have latched onto a theory trying to correlate vaccines and Autism. It is a very scary subject, however, vaccines are our best defense against many life threatening childhood (and adult) dieseases. Check out the mortality rate of countries that do not vaccinate, it is extreemly high. I am a mom of an almost 3 year old boy who has had and will continue to have all of his reccomended vaccines. He is an active, wonderful and healthy little boy.