Real Relationship Between Vaccines and Autism

Growing up as a kid, I hated shots.  I hated the sharp needles, harbingers of pain and doom, that were destined to find their way into my arm or my rear.  No amount of bribery from candy or the future prospect of a trip to my favorite ice cream parlor could dissuade me from fearing what I knew to be inevitable.  Because it was necessary, I was told.  Any responsible parent upon birth of a child would administer some, if not all, of those required vaccinations found in the immunization schedule in order to protect the newborn child from future harm.

But are they?  Are vaccinations safe?  Between the ages of birth and 12 years of age, a child is supposed to receive somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 immunization shots, according to the immunization schedule that is subscribed to in here in the US. 25 of those 30 shots are expected to be administered within the first 2 years.  The question of "are vaccines safe for babies" becomes just as important as the question, "are vaccines safe for children?"  If we take a closer look at what is happening, I think you might be surprised.  With the advent of what can be described as modern medicine came along with it the immunization schedule.  What also came along with it, interesting to note, was a significant rise in autism.  In the 1970s and 80s, autism was estimated to affect approximately one in every 2000 children.

You simply cannot dismiss the alarming correlation of vaccines autism.  Today, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that figure to one in every 150.  Now there are critics that argue that part of the reason for this apparent rise is that awareness of the condition has risen dramatically, and that the definition of what constitutes as autism has expanded just as much.  It is true that some forms of milder autism were not not categorized as such; they now fit in the spectrum of what can be considered the autism spectrum disorder.

This spectrum now includes Asperger's syndome as well as pervasive development disorder, milder forms that were not categorized as "true" autism (back then) since children with these "milder forms" could still form coherent sentences and still interact with other children socially.  But even with the inclusion of these supposedly "milder forms" it still doesn't take into account the exponentially higher rate of cases that have surfaced in the last 35 years.

The debate rages back and forth with mountains of evidence on both sides of whether genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and possibly mercury and aluminum toxins in vaccines have a direct correlation with the marked rise in autism.  One, however, cannot deny the direct relationship between vaccinations and autism.

Vaccinations and Autism