Photo source: nexusnovum on Flickr
What if you were a parent who moments ago just found out that your child was autistic? What if you were a teacher (see this video) with a class full of autistic children? New data shows an average of 1 in 110 children have an autism spectrum disorder. As a parent, your life is full of stress. Now, imagine having a child with a mental disability, this doubles your stress. You are left with nothing but questions; this is the reason why many parents have been easily influenced by what the media has to say about the vaccine link to autism, rather than listening to what scientists have shown to be correct.
Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the first 3 years of a child’s life and affects the brain’s normal development of social and communication skills. It is a physical condition that is linked to abnormal chemistry and biology in the brain. The exact causes of this disorder still remain unknown. Autism comes in different forms, some being more severe and extreme than others. For instance one person with autism can lead a normal life and nobody will suspect them of having any disorder, but other’s require constant care throughout their whole life. How does this huge range of symptoms make discovering the real cause of autism more difficult?
Is it true that the vaccines children receive are linked to autism? False, but even after scientific studies have proved it wrong, parents are still concerned and some are now against getting their child vaccinated, which could be dangerous and fatal. Nearly all of the health organizations have stated that there is no evidence or relationship between vaccines and autism, but a huge controversy still remains. The main reason as to why parents believe vaccinations are leading to autism is because a short time after their child had received vaccines, they noticed changes in their children’s behavior. A coincidence is all that it is; autism symptoms start to show at the same age as the routine vaccinations are scheduled.
The driving force of this whole “debate” is the media and its overall influence on the public. Thanks to people, like Jenny McCarthy who has lead the public to believe the misconception that autism is caused by child vaccinations, the public no longer has any interest in listening to what scientists and doctors have proven wrong. In today’s generation many people are easily influenced by celebrities like Oprah, even though she has little knowledge in the medical field. After many studies and cases in court, over and over again no link has been found to prove that the public’s hypothesis that autism is linked to vaccines. Parents would like to believe that vaccinations lead to autism, even though it has been proven false because any parent would like to find the answer to why their child has this disorder. Blaming it on vaccines is a comfort for parents.
If parents start to become ignorant and refuse to get their children vaccinated, then diseases that could have been prevented will become a major problem in our society. Every year, 2.5 million unvaccinated children worldwide die of diseases that vaccines could have prevented, and vaccines prevent the deaths of an additional 2 million children, according to the Centers for Disease Control. For this debate to come to an end, scientists must put in a bigger effort to communicate their research studies in a convincing manner. Then again, why should scientists work so hard completing experiments if factual results don’t convince people?
