Autism and Vaccines: Are vaccines safe?

Recent controversy surrounding the MMR vaccine leads some to wonder if they should get their child vaccinated.

Lehigh Valley, Pa. (July 25, 2006) – Taking your newborn to the doctor’s office these days probably means your child will get immunization shots. Sometimes that could mean four or five shots at a time. But are they safe?

Recent controversy surrounding the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine and its use of Thimerosal, a preservative some claim to cause autism, has led some parents to avoid getting their children vaccinated. Parents are now worried that MMR and other vaccines that use or have used Thimerosal are actually poisoning their children with mercury, the inactive agent that keeps the vaccine from being released in your child’s body until it is needed. But experts say parents should still have their children vaccinated.

“Hands down, you need to get your child vaccinated,” says Debbie Busch, certified, registered nurse practitioner (C.R.N.P) at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “It was true that the preservative Thimerasol had mercury in it, but the amount of mercury in this vaccine was such an infinitesimally small amount, which has now been removed from almost all vaccines.”

Studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have found no relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism. The CDC also continues to recommend two doses of MMR vaccine for all children. The first dose should come when the child is 12 to 15 months old, and the second dose usually is given between four and six years of age.

“The CDC has spent a lot of time and money on research studies proving that these vaccines are safe,” says Busch. “These are ongoing studies, and all of them have proved that there is no link between autism and the MMR vaccine, or even the rest of the vaccines.”

Busch also cautions that parents shouldn’t pick and choose which vaccines they give to their child. “A popular misconception about viruses such as Polio or Mumps, is that they have been eradicated. That can’t be further from the truth. The viruses are still floating around, it’s just that we’ve been very effective in limiting their outbreaks. The recent outbreak of mumps in the Midwest is an excellent example of why we still need to be diligent in our vaccination efforts,” says Busch.

“Without vaccines, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia says that parents can expect polio to paralyze over 10,000 children a year, Rubella would cause birth defects and mental retardation in as many as 20,000 newborns, and meningitis infections could number over 15,000 a year.

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