Vaccines and autism:  it’s an argument that has been proven and refuted over and over.  The Lancet’s retraction of Dr. Wakefield’s study was suppose to put the argument to rest, and it did for many, but perhaps not accurately.

The truth is, we don’t really know the cause of autism, or the increase of its occurrence.  Last week, a new report linked environmental factors in to 63 percent of autism cases.  According to UCSF, “What exactly those environmental factors are, Hallmayer said, is the “multimillion dollar question,” but he noted that the disorder’s manifestation in very young children indicates a cause early in life and possibly during pregnancy.”

Could vaccines be a an “environmental factor”?

The Baltimore Sun is reigniting the vaccine debate reporting on a new study:

A new Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health study reports that the higher the proportion of infants and toddlers receiving recommended vaccines, the higher the state’s rate of children diagnosed with autism or speech-language problems just a few years later.

This analysis is sure to rekindle the debate about vaccine safety…

In all, the federal government recommends 36 doses of vaccine, addressing 14 different diseases, for every U.S. child under age 2. An on-schedule child will receive a dose of vaccine for hepatitis B at birth, eight doses of various vaccines at 2 months, seven additional doses at 4 months, and four to seven more doses at 6 months.

Infants and toddlers receive these vaccine doses through 26 separate immunization events — mostly shots. If a child misses vaccinations because of illness or scheduling problems, following CDC’s catch-up schedule usually results in extra doses at a later date….

While testing is routine for individual vaccines as they are licensed, research on the both short- and long-term effects of multiple doses of vaccine administered to very young children during the critical birth-to-2 developmental window is sparse to nonexistent.

The Sun continues to explain that ingredients, such as preservatives, adjuvants, and stabilizers, are a serious concern.

My son has Childhood Apraxia of Speech.  He has not been fully immunized.  His neurological disorder is not on the autism spectrum and may caused by other environmental factors and perhaps genetics.  I love my son and would not trade him for any child, but I do wish he had an easier time with communication and health. I’ve gone through personal blame (Was it the flu I had during the first trimester? Was it that BPA bottle I drank my pregnancy tea in?) to realizing much is out of my control.

We can’t discount what the host of chemicals are children are exposed to both in utero and as babies/toddlers does to their development.  Consider yourself very lucky if you have a typically developing child, vaccinated or not!

I’m not totally anti-vaccine, as many may assume. They do save lives. I just think the CDC has gone overboard, and we need to scale back our approach to protecting society from disease.  Hopefully studies like this will be taken seriously and spur research into the effects of multiple doses of vaccinations.  It is what has always scared me most.

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