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| Former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy making another salient point about autism and measles vaccinations. |
In a study of 95,000 children, researchers were unable to find any association between the measles, mumps rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. The researchers also examined whether each child had a family history of autism; even for children within this high-risk category, they found no association between MMR and autism.
Not that we needed this study to prove it—there has never been a single high-quality scientific paper to suggest a connection between vaccines and autism. Yet, over the past 15 years, numerous studies have examined vaccines and their ingredients, and consistently found them safe and effective.
But just in case you were unable to hear the past decade of solid science over Jenny McCarthy’s shrieks, we’ll recap. Back in 2004 the Institute of Medicine examined a large body of epidemiological evidence and confirmed that the MMR vaccine did not cause autism. In 2011, the same group reviewed another eight major vaccines and found, once again, that vaccines don’t cause autism. Two years later, the CDC tracked 256 children with autism and investigated whether they had received the MMR vaccine—no connection. And we stopped even counting pro-thimerosal papers after nine studies from several countries proved that the mercury-containing chemical was entirely safe.
Okay can we FINALLY put this "controversy" to rest?
Children are dying due to misinformation about this topic, and it is vital that the truth gets out there.
Sadly, I don't think it will ever be put to rest. There are too many ignoramuses out there. That's why the only exemptions for childhood vaccinations should be for conflicting health issues.
ReplyDeleteThe folks who need to be convinced rely on RW bloviaters to form their idea of reality. Science is beyond them.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is a rightwing thing. It's well educated progressive parents who have bought into this nonsense.
Delete@anon 10:52 am
DeleteNo, if you think they are all progrssives than why was the fundie church in Texas the cause of our outbreak here? Where the pastor told them "Jebus" would protect against measles , not vaccines. Quite a few of the new "anti-vaxxers are christian extremists.
Who cares about a sample size of 95k and rigorous scientific methods when your neighbor's cousin's boss knows someone whose three year old child was doing the NYT crossword in pen one day, then was given the MMR, and six months later, got autism?
ReplyDeleteToo true, lol
DeleteThe facts are we had hundreds of cases of measles, a disease that just a few yrs ago was classified as eradicated from the USA.
ReplyDeleteBy prediction is we will see a multitude of more cases next winter, my best guess would be close to a 1,000....the yr after many more.
I had a terrible case of measles when I was 4. I almost went blind and had to lie in a totally darkened room for more than a week.
DeleteMy optic nerves were so damaged from the virus that I now have to wear both contacts and bifocals ALL the time, just to be somewhat less than legally blind.
You had better believe that all my kids were given every vaccine on the schedule.
These anti-vaxxer ignoramuses make me absolutely sick. "Measles really isn't a big deal"???? The picture above of their dear leader is just so fitting.
I wonder if Jenny McCarthy has ever thought silicone leaking from her fake boobs may have caused her child's autism. That makes as much sense as thinking an MMR shot causes it.
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:44 AM
DeleteYou beat me to it! Jenny's great eye-candy nothing more, nothing else.
It's ironic that Wakefield started all this with the intent of discrediting the MMR vaccine in favour of a different vaccine—one in which he had a financial interest.
ReplyDeletehttp://briandeer.com/mmr/lancet-summary.htm
Brian Deer was assigned to investigate the crisis, and unearthed a scandal of astounding proportions. He discovered that, far from being based on any findings, the public alarm had no scientific basis whatsoever. Rather, Wakefield had been secretly payrolled to create evidence against the shot and, while planning extraordinary business schemes meant to profit from the scare, he had concealed, misreported and changed information about the children to rig the results published in the journal.
Lots more if you google: wakefield mmr financial interest
I haven't liked her since I read that she refused to give her cousin Melissa McCarthy an intro into Hollywood. Now that Melissa is the more famous one, she expects Melissa to open some doors for her. What an opportunist.
ReplyDeleteI KNOW an anti-vaxxer.
ReplyDeleteShe gets her input from Fox News, Dr. Oz, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh.
I would no more argue with her (again) than I would try to teach algebra to a chicken: she doesn't argue through intellect, she argues through emotion.
Is her brain an implant too?
ReplyDeleteOne of my co workers has an autistic child, I mean no disrespect, but her and her husband have used the vaccine as an excuse for years. They;re hyper, constantly on the end of a raw nerve, and desperate. They actually feel people blame them or think the poor kid inherited it, no matter how much science refutes it, the more they blame it on vaccines.
ReplyDeleteShe did Jenny McCarthy's diet, and swore it was cured, but no one sees any difference whatsoever. When the kid's with other kids, he does make attempts at eye contact and communication, then the parents start "did you SEE THAT?" and "That's from the vitamins and chelation therapy". Like I said before, no one wants to see their child suffer, but what credentials does Jenny McCarthy have that makes her an expert on vaccines and autism?
Chelation therapy, Jenny McCarthy diet, vitamins?
DeleteWhat's next...bleach enemas?
That poor kid.
She has great tits.
ReplyDeleteMany children who are now being diagnosed with autism were born prematurely or after a complicated full-term pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteA good case can be made that prematurity, and the therapies that allow so many premature babies to survive, is what has led to the recent dramatic increase in autism.
Almost all preemies, and many full-term babies born after high-risk pregnancies, are subjected to prenatal and/or postnatal steroids (drugs like betamethasone or dexamethasone). These drugs are given to pregnant women and their high-risk babies to help "mature" the babies' lungs (and improve survival statistics).
However, steroids also disrupt development of the cerebellum -- leading to a type of brain damage typically seen on autopsy in adults with autism.
Up to 25% of very low birthweight preemies are now testing positive for severe autism in early screening tests, and many more show signs of being on the milder end of autism spectrum.