THE AUTISM/VACCINE CONNECTION: Could the Government be Dead Wrong?

by: Paula Rothstein

What happened on February 12, 2009 in Washington, D.C.?

Whenever I discuss vaccine safety with those influenced solely by today's news coverage I am quickly put on the defensive, being asked to explain why our government's vaccine courts have ruled against the vaccine link to autism as they did most recently on February 12, 2009. The safety of vaccines as determined by a vaccine court is fraught with conflict of interest and lack of appropriate research. The government mandates vaccines and therefore it is not in their interest to find fault with these vaccines and since decisions cannot be determined in a civil court unless first decided in vaccine court, it is hard to get a decision which calls into question the CDC's agressive vaccination schedule.

Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association, explains the recent court decision quite well in the following short video as she was recently interviewed for a news station on this subject: http://www.abc6.com/news/39518632.html

You need to first understand that no independent studies (i.e. one not funded by the pharmaceutical drug companies) have ever been performed on vaccines and no studies have ever been performed comparing the unvaccinated to the vaccinated to weigh both benefits and risks. Without these studies the government can declare these vaccines to be safe. As so often is the case with our government, the fox is in charge of the hen house. Also lacking are studies weighing the cumulative effects of all these toxins as injected via vaccines. And we wonder why parents' stories appear purely speculative! As a non-believer of the connection one can easily dismiss the link of vaccine leading to autism for lack of proof but it is the parent who knows their child best, carefully observing their child following vaccination, one day later, one week later, one month later and so on until finally one day their doctor gives a diagnosis of autism. Yet the parent noted almost immediately a change in behavior and speech -- they witnessed their precious child's withdrawal from the world that started almost immediately after a round of vaccinations but it is months of regression before anyone will confirm that, yes, their child is changed. And then they are told that the timing is merely a coincidence! Thousands of stories that read almost exactly the same and yet it is just a coincidence!

Whether or not to vaccinate is indeed a complex issue. When first deciding to approach vaccines differently with my second child I spent numerous hours researching a subject that I previously knew nothing about. It is an enormous hurdle to dismiss years of one-sided information on an issue, one which involves the health of a child vs. the trust of both our government and medical profession. This is huge! It is a very personal decision and it is that very decision that must be protected. With each passing day, as we march towards universal health coverage and an ever intrusive government, it appears this personal decision must be protected against the very government that was designed to safeguard its citizens.

You can argue whether or not vaccinations are a useful tool against disease but the argument stops when it becomes whether or not a parent should have the right to make health decisions for a child. I have yet to find one single parent who chooses not to vaccinate be anything less than the most conscientious parent for it is the parent who decides to go against her doctor's wishes who has read a great deal on the subject, usually to the point of great proficiency -- most often surpassing her own doctor's knowledge on the subject. Whereas it is the parent who vaccinates who has read nothing more than the pamphlet found in their pediatrician's office - the pamphlet published by the pharmaceutical company marketing the vaccine. Sometimes their knowledge does not even go this far. Unfortunately, it often takes a personal tragedy before a parent comes to question the legitimacy of allopathic medicine.

If one can be so quick to believe that a large group of parents are mislead on the issue of vaccinations why is it so difficult to imagine that the government and drug companies could be dead wrong on this issue?

These are unique times in the history of modern medicine as we have come to lean so heavily upon pharmaceuticals for our health and less and less upon our natural ability to fight disease. It is time to start listening to the instincts of thousands upon thousands of parents who say their children regressed into autism shortly after receiving a round of vaccinations at least to the extent we provide them with independent research to confirm the truth.

As parents considering whether or not to vaccinate, the autism connection cannot be over simplified, blaming one ingredient used in vaccines or even one shot in particular. It is most likely the cumulative damage of too many vaccines as mandated by the CDC possibly acting as the trigger of this disease as well as many other diseases suspiciously on the rise in our children. A parent should spend as much time researching the safety of vaccines as they would on any other issue involving the health and well being of their child.