Do vaccines cause autism?

[OmiOmen]

Not at all. This is a case of the mass media reading a journal article and attempting to cause mass panic in order to sell papers. The sad thing here is that the people writing these stories have degrees and know how reading journals works and that it was not the opinion of the medical community on the whole, it is all about selling a story. Unfortunately, although the journalists who reported the story may go on to do their own research when deciding if their children have the MMR jab or not, most of the people reading the tabloids probably did not and took what they read as fact. The doctor was struck off the medical register and his work was widely discredited.

There is no definitive answer as to what causes Autism but it is something that seems to be there from birth. As others have pointed out vaccinations save lives and we are very lucky to live in a country where they are available to us. I am not telling people what to do with their own children but I can say that my son has had/will be having his.

 

[smokey]

In my oppinion no it doesnt, even the dr who made the original report has admited to faking it for profit and has been stricken off, i think he was even arrested over it.

 

[JASMAK]

I have a child with autism, and she showed signs well before her shots...as a newborn, infact. We just didn't know it at the time. So, no, I don't think it does, and I know parents who have not had any vaccinations for their children and they have autism. The problem is, no one knows what causes or triggers autism (keeping in mind, the word autism is five seperate conditions and they all vary widely). It could be the tylenol you had while pregnant, it could be the pesticides in food (I am leaning towards this) or it could be a virus that caused it (Makena was very sick at birth). Who knows?!! But, some of these illnesses have devestating life-long effects on children too, which is why they developed vaccines. My baby is getting all her shots and if she does have autism (you don't get autism, it is widely understood that you are BORN with it) then I will have confidence that it was not from any vaccine. BTW, my baby shows NO signs of autism and at 8mths old, she already communicates better than my child with autism did at 3 YEARS old.

 

[summer rain]

I don't believe so; however I do think the uK govt/NHS are dismissive of the possibility of any vaccine reaction and this actually makes parents more paranoid and is counter-productive. It is even advised in some of the vaccine leaflets that under certain circumstances some children should either a) not have a certain vaccine at all or b) it should be given with extreme caution and possibly on a delayed schedule yet in the UK most of the time parents are not even given the vaccine leaflet/insert and those I have known who have had a terrible allergic reaction to a vaccine that is given in several doses they have been told its just coincidence and also pressured to give further doses of the vaccine. I know one lady, just one whose child had a rash after receiving the 5-in-1 vaccine whose GP bothered to read the literature and thus told her that having any further doses would not be safe. Also here GPs get paid 7k a year if all their child patients are vaccinated, which is outrageous.

 

[peanut56]

My own opinion is NO, they do not cause autism. As far as I know (and other posters have said the same thing) that whole thing was discredited. But there are still a lot of people who believe they do cause autism, despite it being discredited. But everyone's entitled to their own opinion I suppose.
And like others have said, I would rather deal with autism than losing my daughter to a disease she could have been vaccinated against. JMO.

 

[Seity]

Nope.

 

[discoclare]

No, I don't believe so.

For the poster who asked if there was a chicken pox vaccine in the US, we have it in the UK too. It's licensed here, it just isn't in the UK childhood vaccination schedule (probably due to cost-benefit analysis and reluctance of the public to accept more vaccinations into the schedule) but it's available privately.