AIBU to remind everyone that the MMR vaccine does NOT cause autism?

[TheHodgeoftheHedge]

Seeing as this worry comes up so many times on MN and in wider life, I feel obliged to post this and remind everyone that MMR has not link to autism whatsoever, as yet another HUGE study has found.

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/mmr-vaccine-autism-antivax-measles-study-andrew-wakefield-a8808086.html

Thanks.

You lost your argument when you assigned ‘benign’ to Smallpox, measles, Polio. Diptheria. Diseases that have killed so many more than vaccines have ever damaged. Your final statement on vaccine damage being significantly greater shows that you are unable to research properly. I am sorry for your family, I hope your inability to comprehend peer reviewed research and evidence improves in the near future.

A lot of antivaxers are not just concerned about autism but are conspiracy theorists as a whole. They believe that Drs collude with big pharma to harm kids in the name of profits. They believe vaccines are full of neurotoxins and aborted fetal cells, that recently vaccinated kids shed viruses and are the cause of outbreaks.

They also believe that eating a healthy diet and essential oils are enough to protect their kids against illness because their immune systems are strong enough to repel any baddies.

They believe diseases have been eradicated through better hygiene and diets, which of course is a huge reason why we have better health but not the whole story.

Thankfully the conspiracy theorists don't seem to be as prevalent here as in the USA.

Not related to vaccines but I read a post on FB earlier today about how modern medicine killed Luke Perry. They cite the fact he had a colonoscopy a couple of years back as the cause of his stroke, ignoring the fact that it caught colorectal cancer. They then apparently conspired to give him drugs to suppress his breathing because apparently big pharma and the evil Drs are not happy till they have finished you off.

There's no way of debating with people who think like this.

Vaccines cause Adults.

I see Cathmidston is back on their bullshit.

The article you linked claiming there were few studies that had large amount of unvaccinated children was from a clearly biased source, which was also wrong - as has been pointed out, the article in the OP describes a study that includes ~30,000 unvaccinated children to compare against, which is a significant sample size.

More to the point, evidence-based science works more on positive, falsifiable claims rather than negative ones - where is the good quality evidence that the MMR vaccine does cause autism?

Mumps is not fucking benign in younger children. It is fucking awful, painful and serious enough to have the Dr visit daily due to it.

I am on the fence in regards to the link between vaccines and Autism.

My son has autism and lost all speech and completed regressed the week after his MMR jab. It is probably a coincidence and i’ve never thought the MMR caused him to have autism (if anything triggered?) because it runs in my family. (It’s also very hard for me to have a serious conversation with anyone about this because unless you have a nonverbal child with Autism you can’t NOY understand the difficulties (and joys) it brings)

BUT a SEN teacher and course leader told me i would be surprised by the number of parents who have said their children also lost all speech and regressed very quickly after their MMR.

Having said that i AM vaccinating my youngest because i would rather her autistic and alive.

NOT*

The new study by Danish researchers found children who had the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination were seven per cent less likely to be autistic than those who missed the injection ...., “

Not an anti vaxxer before I get accused of it but erm wouldn't that be down to the fact that many children who have older siblings with ASD and therefore have a higher risk anyway of having ASD are left unvaccinated for longer/not vaccinated because of parental concerns

It's not like the vaccine prevents autism!

Although yes, it can prevent side effects of the illness that could result in long term disability if the illnesses are caught.

Sorry, that was unnecessary.
Having been present at one of his lectures I formed the opinion that he was deluded at best with very poor backup supporting his ‘research’
Meeting him afterwards I didn’t feel drawn to him in any way.
Despite being struck off he has had a huge impact,
A dangerous one.
Children are dying because of his misguided bollocks.
I find it very difficult to hear his name without resorting to swear words.
Antivax believers are like people in a sick cult

Not sure if this has been posted but a recent massive study has come out that finds NO link with vaccines and autism and in fact there is an INCREASE in diagnoses of autism in children NOT vaccinated, that must be blowing anti-vaxxers minds!

The latest study to conclude there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism looked at 657,461 childrenborn in Denmark between 1999 and 2010, including 6,517 children who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

The study, published inAnnals of Internal Medicine, found that children who had siblings with autism were seven times more likely to go on to be diagnosed with ASD than children without a family history of the disorder, and boys were four times more likely to be diagnosed than girls.

However, even in these higher-risk groups, there was nolink between gettingvaccinated and being diagnosed with autism.

In fact, theDutch teamfound that the 5 percent of children in the study who had no vaccinations were 17 percentmorelikely to be diagnosed with autism than those who had received vaccinations.

"The study strongly supports that MMR vaccination does not increase the risk for autism, does not trigger autism in susceptible children, and is not associated with clustering of autism cases after vaccination," the authors from the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen conclude in their paper.

And this was conducted on over 600,000 children so a large sample group!

Lmfao user1468399948. That is literally why I created this thread and what was linked to in the OP.

The piece you linked to only hinted at the study and then went into opinion piece rather than the study itself. Sorry I also only skimmed it when I opened it as it's hard to read the independent on my phone. I think the piece I posted gives more detail of the actual study.

You are right, it wasn’t the best article on the study. When I posted it, most of the better ones were behind pay walls. Apologies.

As a child growing up in the 60s and 70s, I knew a great many children who were labelled as difficult, trouble makers or stupid.
In the following decades there was an explosion of children with autism, dyslexia, adhd, dyspraxia. What caused them?
Correct diagnoses: some of which unfortunately happened to roughly co-incide with childhood vaccinations.

Well said.

That study is not completely unvaccinated vs vaccinated. It is based on just the MMR vaccine. It says nothing about other vaccines those children may have had, it just focuses on MMR.
Also the families that delayed, refused MMR are significantly more likely to have a sibling or other risk factors for autism ..hence the skewed results and even the authors allude to that.

and in fact there is an INCREASE in diagnoses of autism in children NOT vaccinated, that must be blowing anti-vaxxers minds!

I'm not an anti-vaxxer but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to consider that parents with other children with autism and parents of children who already have signs of autism are those same parents who may be most concerned about the vaccination.
Anti-vaxxers would take that into account when seeing a greater number of those with autism in the undiagnosed population.

And also, it's not just about autism Vs no autism but the concern about vaccination and the severity of the autism, so I expect they take that into account also.

Just gleefully pointing at people and accusing them of stupidity doesn't seem to alleviate their concerns or alter their behaviour.

Exactly @teyem

There is nothing benign about measles. My dd and I both had measles and were extremely ill. I have honestly never been so frightened for her. My own experience left me off work for three months with complications.

The point is though, if they are concerned by vaccines and then don't vaccinate subsequent children due to their fears, and then the unvaccinated children are diagnosed with autism pretty big clue there it wasn't the vaccines that caused it no?

And this study looked at high risk for autism children and found that vaccines had no impact in whether they went on to be diagnosed with autism so parents fears around vaccines are completely unfounded and yes I think they should be called out on it.

And parents that are worried by all the 'additives' in vaccines don't seem to care about feeding their children when most food (and the human body) contains more of these 'additives' then vaccines ever do.

‘The case of smallpox
‘In England: Free smallpox vaccines were introduced in 1840 and made compulsory in 1853. Between 1857 and 1859 there were 14, 244 deaths from smallpox. After a population rise of 7%, the death rate rose by 40.8% to 20, 059 between 1863 and 1865. In 1867 evaders of vaccination were prosecuted. Those left unvaccinated were very few. After a population rise of 9%, the death rate rose by 123% to 44, 840, between 1870 and 1872.
The much touted anecdote ‘vaccines have eradicated smallpox’ cannot be justified by the actual evidence; in fact all of the evidence shows that smallpox vaccine increased the severity and incidence of smallpox when all other illnesses (that at the time had no vaccines) were on the decline. Where do vaccine promoters get their evidence from, do they in fact have any evidence or is this just a belief?’

Additionally there were many countries where less than 10% of the populations were vaccinated yet the disease still disappeared ....so clearly other factors were involved in its ‘eradication’

@Cathmidston so where is all the smallpox now? How do you think it was eradicated? Do you know what the original smallpox vaccine was? Do you know it was a fully live virus? Do you realise medicine has moved on since then? Do you know the success of the smallpox vaccine lead the way for more vaccines?

Cansu.... I had measles and in my case and many others it was benign. Like I keep saying there are many cofactors related to the severity of measles ..it is not random

Rainbowjellies that study only looked at the MMR. It doesn’t mention other vaccines the test group had ..therefore it is not comparing vaccinated with completely unvaccinated

And parents that are worried by all the 'additives' in vaccines don't seem to care about feeding their children when most food (and the human body) contains more of these 'additives' then vaccines ever do
That’s a very generalising statement isn’t it... who says they aren’t worries about food additives. What a ridiculous assumption to make.

I don't think you understand my point rainbow. Which is not about the actual risks of vaccination but the perception of risk and vaccination and how admonishing people for their concerns doesn't inspire people to change their behaviour.

Not food additives! Naturally occurring! Like pears have naturally occurring formaldehyde and cyanide that parent complain about in vaccines. The body needs formaldehyde to function.