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The Right Question
If science doesn’t ask the right question, the answer a study produces is useless.
Perhaps the biggest issue with the science done to date to assess the
relationship between vaccines and autism is that it doesn’t reflect the
real world of how vaccines are administered and the feedback from
parents on how this impacts their children. Consider:
In 1983, the maximum number of separate vaccines a child would
receive by the age of 5 was 10. Today, that number is 36. By the time a
child is 5 years old, if their parents follow the CDC’s recommended
schedule, they will have received the following vaccines, many in
multiple doses (the doses is what gets you from 11 to 36: you get DTP 4
times, for example):
- Hepatitis B
- Rotavirus
- DTP
- Hib
- Pneumococcal
- Polio
- Flu
- MMR
- Varicella
- Hepatitis A
- Meningococcal (only for certain groups)
Of the 11 separate diseases covered above, there are actually 34
separate vaccines licensed with the FDA. For example, your child might
receive either Rotateq or Rotarix, each of which has been developed in a
separate and unique way to address the disease Rotavirus. The possible
combinations of total vaccines your child might receive are almost
infinite: my child got the Merck Hep B, but the Sanofi Flu, etc, etc.
So, in a single two month-old visit, the average American child will receive 6 separate vaccines in about 15 minutes:
2 month visit:
- Hepatitis B
- Rotavirus
- DTP
- Hib
- Pneumococcal
- Polio
Two months later, at 4 months of age, most children in America will
again receive the same 6 vaccines, all administered at the same time:
- Hepatitis B
- Rotavirus
- DTP
- Hib
- Pneumococcal
- Polio
Two months later, at 6 months of age, most children in America then receive 7 vaccines, all administered at the same time:
- Hepatitis B
- Rotavirus
- DTP
- Hib
- Pneumococcal
- Polio
- Flu
So, by 6 months of age most American children receive 19 vaccines
through 3 visits to the doctor. It’s worth noting that many kids also
receive a birth dose of Hepatitis B, boosting this number to 20
vaccines.
So, of the first 20 shots given to kids, how many have been studied
for their relationship to autism? The answer may surprise you: ZERO.
That’s right, because only one vaccine, the MMR, has ever been studied
for its relationship to autism. The MMR is a vaccine first administered
to American children at 13 months of age.
But what about the 2, 4, and 6 month well-baby visits where children
receive so many vaccines? The truth is they have never been studied or
considered, so no one has any idea. This would be like trying to
identify the source of a plane crash, suspecting mechanical failure,
solely analyzing one of the wings, and then declaring the entire
airplane free of culpability. But, that’s exactly what has happened.
Having spent the time to critically read every study produced to
"prove" vaccines don’t cause autism, we were dumbfounded by their
inadequacy. We find the comments public officials make about these
studies to be even more absurd and unsupportable. Consider, from the
studies, some of the actual questions that were asked:
Q: Do children receiving more thimerosal in their vaccines have
different neurological outcomes from children receiving less thimerosal
in their vaccines?
Q: Are autism rates different for children who received 62.5 mcg or 137.5 mcg of mercury?
Q: Did children who all received DTP vaccine with thimerosal have
higher or lower rates of developmental disorders based on when they got
the shots?
Q: Do Thimerosal containing vaccines administered to children raise mercury blood levels above safe standards?
Q: Does the use of RhoGam shots during pregnancy have a correlation with autism?
These 5 examples above come from 5 of the most commonly listed
studies cited as "proof" that "vaccines do not cause autism." Yet, not
one of them comes close to addressing this issue or answering the
question we all really care about that goes something like this:
Our children receive 36 vaccines by the time they are five,
including 20 by their first birthday. Is the administration of so many
vaccines causing autism in certain children?
That question, so important to the health of our children and our
nation, has never been asked, so it cannot yet be answered. Please look
at the "fourteen studies" and see for yourself if you agree with our assessment.
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