Autism AND Vaccines Research Paper

In the wake of the controversy that vaccination leads to autism, many parents are left bewildered as to which side of the story they will rely on, because apparently, opinions as regards this issue are divided among two groups; mainstream scientists and the government on one side, and many small and forthright advocacy groups on the other. The claim that vaccines cause autism first came into the news in 1998 when a British medical journal the Lancet published a study, which connected autism of 12 children with the MMR vaccine (Downs 2015). Though the study has been rejected by several researchers and has been withdrawn by the Lancet, the fear instilled in the minds of some people regarding the connection between vaccines and autism remains strong. As a result, there are many people who do not vaccinate their children with the belief that they are protecting their children from the probable harm that vaccination might subject them to (de los Reyes 2010). However, though vaccination might trigger adverse reactions in a small percentage of children, it is wrong not to vaccinate children on the basis of the wrong assumption that vaccination leads to autism, because the action of non-vaccination might trigger the spread of the deadly diseases, which have almost disappeared from the world due to vaccination, in epidemic form again.
According to the advocacy groups who believe that vaccination causes autism, a preservative called thimerosal, which is used in vaccines to protect it from the contamination of the bacteria and fungi, causes toxicity to the central nervous system. They believe that thimerosal accounts for the growing number of autism cases among children in the USA and all over the world ("Vaccines: Separating fact” 2008). However, most of the mainstream scientists are opposed to the belief that vaccination has anything to do with autism and opine that there is no credible scientific evidence so far that establishes a correlation between thimerosal in vaccines and autism. Thimerosal carries mercury compound called ethyl mercury. According to the mainstream researchers, ethyl mercury is not as harmful as methyl mercury traced in high amount in some fishes. It is methyl mercury that by accumulating in human tissue poses a threat to the cognitive development in young children because of which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning against feeding fish to young children (Gerber and Offit 2009). The studies conducted on vaccines show that the body removes ethyl mercury more quickly than methyl mercury, and as a result, ethyl mercury does not stockpile in human tissue. The mainstream research studies show that the only known side effects from the use of thimerosal in vaccines are minor reactions such as swelling and redness around the injection spot (Gerber and Offit 2009).
The advocacy groups further pinpoint a few studies conducted in the late 1990s in order to substantiate their belief that thimerosal and autism are related. These studies were conducted by Mark Geier, who is a geneticist by profession and a former researcher of the National Institutes of Health, and his son David ("Vaccines: Separating fact” 2008). According to Mark Geier and his son David, children who have been exposed to vaccines containing thimerosal are six times more likely to develop autism than children who have not been exposed to it. They formed their conclusion on the basis of their analysis of the data they collected from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which is a US based government reporting system that collects vaccine related health complaints ("Vaccines: Separating fact” 2008).
However, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) negated the findings of Geiers explaining that VAERS data cannot be fully relied on because although the system collects health complaints, there is no means of assessing the legitimacy or the accuracy of the complaints (Downs 2015). Hence, the VAERS reports may either represent true facts, mistakes in filing or coincidental occurrences, and therefore, on the basis of analyzing only the VAERS data, it cannot be substantiated that thimerosal in vaccines is the causal agent behind autism. The AAP experts also argued that the methodology used by Geiers has many flaws as the Geiers did not specify anything about how they collected the data and how the data were generated, thereby preventing transparency of their methods and the outcomes (Downs 2015).
A slew of studies have been conducted ever since it has been claimed that thimerosal in vaccines is related to autism, but none of the studies has found any link between autism and vaccines. For example, a study was conducted in 2003 by a group of researchers who monitored the rates of autism in Sweden and Denmark, where the use of thimerosal in vaccines stopped in 1992, but yet the rate of autism showed an upward trend between 1987 and 1999 ("Further evidence rejects” 2013). Following the discontinuation of thimerosal, the rate of autism should have dropped, but such was not the case. Experts have also proven that the rise in autism has no link with the exposure to thimerosal. For instance, the scientists have observed that the rate of autism has gone through a sharp spike in the Great Britain since the 1980s, but in the whole of Britain, only one vaccine administered contains thimerosal ("Further evidence rejects” 2013). The rest of the vaccines have always been free of thimerosal.
Medical experts are unanimous on the benefits provided by vaccination. They opine that the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks associated with it for the entire community. A small percentage of children might experience adverse reactions due to vaccinations, but such incidents are a rarity, with a large number of children successfully being vaccinated every year without any incident. Besides, because of vaccination, a lot of diseases have become almost non-existent in many parts of the world. For instance, polio, which was once a dreaded crippling disease, has not been seen in the USA for several decades (Downs 2015). Vaccination against Haemophilus influenzae type b, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and meningococcus has substantially reduced the incidence of bacterial meningitis and other ailments caused by these bacteria (de los Reyes 2010). If a large number of people decide not to vaccinate their children because of the fear of autism, then various deadly diseases may spread in epidemic proportions again, and therefore, vaccination is a must-have for any child to remain healthy.
In conclusion, ever since the publication of the Lancet has come to the forefront connecting autism to vaccines, a growing fear has gripped the minds of many parents who choose to stay away from vaccinating their children in order to protect them. The advocacy groups claim that vaccines contain a harmful preservative called thimerosal that is toxic to the central nervous system. They also point out to the study conducted by the Geiers to substantiate that vaccines cause autism. However, the mainstream researchers did not find any link between autism and vaccines. In fact, most of the researchers have rejected the findings and the research study of the Geiers because of the flaws and the lack of transparency involved in the methodology of the study. Researchers are unanimous about the benefits of vaccination and they believe that if a large number of people decide not to vaccinate their children, then the deadly diseases, which have been suppressed for decades, might reappear again. Therefore, vaccination should be administered to every child to secure the community from the deadly consequences.

Work Cited

"Vaccines: Separating fact from fiction." CNN. 9 Dec 2008. Web. 22 Apr 2015 <http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/family/11/05/par.vaccine.kids/>
"Further evidence rejects link between vaccines and autism". Reactions Weekly, 1449(1), 2-2. doi:10.1007/s40278-013-2638-4. 2013. Print.
de los Reyes, Emily C. "Autism And Immunizations". Archives of Neurology. 67 (4). 2010. Print.
Gerber, Jeffrey S. and Offit, Paul A. "Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses". Clin Infect Dis. 48 (4),456-461. doi: 10.1086/596476. 2009. Web. 22 Apr 2015 <http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/48/4/456.full>
Downs, Martin. "Autism-Vaccine Link: Evidence Doesn't Dispel Doubts". WebMD. 2015. Web. 22 Apr 2015 <http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/searching-for-answers/vaccines-autism>