The Controversy
With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on the rise, it is understandable that fear will spread like wildfire too. The 21st century has witnessed great human progress, but there remains a balance with certain shortcomings. One of them is the growing yet misplaced concern among the public that vaccines can cause Autism. Despite healthcare professionals rebuking the idea, the controversy seems to persist among a large group of people to this day.
History: How it Began
If you have been keeping up with social media and health politics these past few years, chances are you would have come across the word “anti-vaxxer”. They have been supported by the like-minded, scorned by others, but how did the controversy really begin?
According to Seth Mnookin’s book “The Panic Virus”, the controversy can be traced all the way back to 1998. British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, claimed to have found a connection between Autism Spectrum Disorder and the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine. Not only was his study focused only on 12 people, but it was later found out that he misrepresented the relevant data. He promptly lost his medical license, and several studies rebuking and debunking his theory have followed since then. However, the idea stuck, and persists to this day.
Dr Sanjay Gupta deduces that one of the reasons for the rise of the misconception is fear. With autism stats increasing, families are being frightened into aversion. It is after all said, “Better safe than sorry.” One only wonders, though, what about safety from the diseases vaccines immunize us against? Gupta contributes the undermining of those diseases to the efficiency of vaccines, themselves. Successfully immunizing us against diseases like diphtheria, polio and measles, he believes we may have forgotten the gravity and terror they imposed.
The problem with vaccination hesitancy is that the negative effects it entails are not limited to the anti-vax individual, alone. Rather, they have the capacity to affect anyone and everyone. A recent example is the outbreak of measles in 2014-15. The gathering at Disneyland included children who were not vaccinated, and the intermingling is believed to have contributed to about 150 cases across Mexico, Canada, and eight states of the United States of America. It took about four months before the outbreak was declared to have ended.
Breaking it Down: The Science behind the Myth
Though opposition to vaccines can be traced as far back as their introduction in the 19th century, linking them with autism diagnoses is fairly recent. Wakefield’s claims may have given way to persistent search into confirming the truth behind the fear. A relatively quiet hysteria that has passed on through the years, the controversy can be seen supported to this day.
It can be contributed to how the myth finds life. The continuity can perhaps thus be attributed to the use of thimerosal in some vaccines. Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative, and it was believed to cause autism in individuals. Journalist David Kirby details how a group of parents of autistic children were the ones to first seize upon the idea of thimerosal causing the spread of autism. Spending long hours researching studies on mercury in libraries and on the computer, a study entitled “Medical Hypotheses” was published. It compared the characteristics of autism to signs of mercury exposure reported in past records.
According to an article by Jeffrey P. Baker, there arose a group of people who wanted to follow a different trajectory than the norm, one that gave them hope of not only autism treatment but of a complete cure. With Wakefield’s claims, despite them being discovered baseless and hence rejected, families of children of determination found this hope. They gained a platform further when Congressman Dan Burton initiated congressional hearings on autism spectrum disorder and vaccine safety after his own grandchild was diagnosed with the condition following a year’s vaccinations.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has established that said theory is not true. Besides this, thimerosal is now only used in select flu vaccinations. For those unsatisfied still, there are flu vaccines that can be opted for which do not contain any thimerosal.
The Science
In 2011, a report by the IOM was shared, testing the effects of eight vaccines on children and adults. It was found that, with rare exceptions, those vaccines were safe.
A study by the CDC in 2013 focused on the antigens (the substances in vaccines which activate the body’s immune system) in vaccines during the first two years of life. It concluded that the antigens received were similar in both, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and those without. The findings stated thus that vaccines do not cause autism.
Even the role of thimerosal in causing autism had been countered by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2004. Moreover, there have been nine studies conducted with CDC funding since 2003, all of which deduce no link between thimerosal and autism, or the MMR vaccine and autism. One must wonder then why was it removed from vaccines, had it been so harmless. History tells us that it was carried out more as a precautionary deed than much else, so as to reduce children’s exposure to mercury.
All the research carried out by licensed scientists rejects the idea of vaccines causing autism. In fact, the side that claims a link between the two bases theories off of a study that was not even vast enough to provide accurate data. That is to say, those who know of the origins of the myth.
Battling the Myth
Vaccines do not cause autism spectrum disorder. Having established this, it must be acknowledged as merely a forest fire of baseless fear and fear-mongering. It is a peculiarly picked up rumour, which has had a significantly negative influence; including parents refusing to vaccinate their children, being the most obvious consequence. Receiving celebrity endorsement and attention from both mainstream and social media, this instance of fraudulent science has not been completely tackled with. This makes organizations promoting autism awareness, such as Small Steps Big Dreams in Dubai, UAE, all the more significant; as there are a number of people who nod along to baseless statements due to a lack of knowledge and understanding.