One cannot but encounter the fact that 21st century parents can be characterized by grasping distinct parental practices compared to the families of previous generations. The focus here lies in arguing that today’s society has been much influenced by ever-evolving digital culture that many consider as the major source of numerous controversies facing parents. Obviously, technology advances are constantly cultivating revolutionary new approaches to getting to know some key aspects of today’s environment. A peculiar thing is that an unprecedented scientific breakthrough enabled the public to come to understanding all the complexity of social organization involving many repugnant issues. In any way, what the prevailing majority of families still fail to clearly see is that autism has nothing to do with vaccination. Despite the fact that the tendency to vaccinate children has existed for a long time, it is worth saying that vaccinations continue to be the subject of different controversies; in other words, the idea that immunization is likely to hurt children occurs as the matter of great concern.
It is important to indicate that some families of autistic children advance an argument that vaccination emerges to be a decisive factor contributing to their children’s mental health disorder. Moreover, one should be conscious that the bulk of the same parents often approve anti-vaccine conspiracy theory, since scientists find it difficult to elucidate whether children are born with autism or this mental disorder develops throughout life. In any way, one should know that, in accordance with recent surveys, there are no link between the given disorder and any vaccine (Farrington, Miller & Taylor, 2001). Apparently, being involved in any medical treatment means that people are put at risk for developing certain side effects. For all that, these symptoms are not likely to incorporate cognitive distortions that are caused by unknown factors.
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Considering autism itself, one should become aware that it occurs as “...an incompletely understood developmental disorder or group of related disorders.” (Dales., Hammer & Smith, 2001, p. 1183) usually diagnosed before 24 months; a particular attention should be drawn to the fact that autism has a detrimental impact on brain, resulting in children’s inability to integrate in the society they live in. Indisputably, the given social disorder is often accompanied with communication impairments. In accordance with the latest studies, it becomes apparent that autism should not be underestimated from the perspective of its expansion size.
To make it clear, it is important to admit that the number of those children with autism has increased dramatically in the past decade. Inevitably, the major problem consists in having no medicine, which would endow children with autism to undergo treatment and get a hope for recovery, respectively. On the other hand, one should take into consideration the fact that there are some medications used to partially improve symptoms of autism; all in all, despite the fact that technology advances are constantly being made, there are still no tests, which would help emphasize the symptoms of autism and start treating behavioural problems at early stage. It is hard to exaggerate the brain damage that a neurodevelopmental disorder can lead to; since autism occurs as predominantly a psychological illness, it is possible to diagnose it through observation due to the fact that children with autism are prone to social isolation and reluctance to make friends. Given that autism cuts children’s chances to integrate in the society, it appears to be extremely difficult for them to live a normal life.
One cannot help but become aware that families put a lot of effort into providing best for the needs of their children; surely, they are often much concerned about children’s health, and one of the biggest problems consists in being unaware of why and when autism appears. Contemplating upon the claims that vaccines increase the risks of mental disorder, it is important to know that these speculations come from the fact that children are immunized during the first three years of life; and autism spectrum disorders are most likely to appear at this very age.
As for the vaccine ingredient that many public activists drew special attention to, it is basically Thimerosal. Evidently, the surveys on this component gave some evidence to its detrimental effect to a child’s central nervous system at high doses. In view of some scientists, when the high doses of Thimerosal found in vaccines are taken, there is a high probability that children will confront behavioural problems, communication impairments, and petulance. On the other hand, researchers with opposing views claim that Thimerosal is not harmful. All in all, it is important to highlight the fact that a mercury-based component was actually removed from childhood vaccines in order to eradicate any potential risks. Although the studies in respect of the negative effects of Thimerosal did not offer enough convincing evidence with regards to particular side effects “... except for local hypersensitivity reactions.” ( Ball., Ball & Pratt, 2001, p.1151), this vaccine ingredient was removed for two major reasons. First of all, scientists aimed to eliminate the exposure to some theoretical risks that intake of Thimerosal in babies can increase. In addition, the idea to remove mercury-based component from vaccines was supported so as to minimize the exposures to mercury.
Regarding the theme of a direct link between neurodevelopmental disorder and Thimerosal, one has to be conscious that it was Jenny McCarthy who brought the idea of casual relationship to social media in 2005. To be precise, it is worth saying that she spoke openly with regards to her personal attitude towards vaccination after her son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. A peculiar thing is that McCarthy took a critical decision to give utterance to her beliefs concerning immunization in order to uncover uncertainties in her son’s behavioural changes. It is important to take into account the thing that after a deep familiarity with the claims regarding the casual relationship between autism and mercury-based component found in many vaccines, a popular actress brought her beliefs to the public.
Taking a view of McCarthy’s principal position, it becomes clear that she was intended to encourage the society to reinterpret deeply-rooted beliefs in reference to the purpose of vaccination. To put it another way, she aimed to convince the audience of her point, which consisted in focusing on the excessive number of vaccines received at an early age. Significantly, she did not claim that childhood immunizations had to be ultimately prohibited; her argument implied an incentive to reduce an amount of vaccines that children get. On the whole, McCarthy’s case has impacted the society in the way that people became more involved in which vaccines their children receive. Surely, it is important to take into account the fact that “...vaccinations are administered as early as possible to assure that infants are protected against diseases that occur in early childhood.” (Miller & Reynolds, 2009, p. 167) Nonetheless, the 21st century medicine does not view autism as a problem to be solved. Moreover, since 2005, autism specialists have not found any kind of causal relationships between immunization and autism.
Apart from McCarthy’s stance against vaccines, it is important to make mention of another case dealing with Dr. Wakefield’s survey on autism. In particular, one has to know that Dr. Andrew Wakefield conducted a study in 2011 that was subsequently classified as a fraud; in any way, long-term effects of his misconception about autism spectrum disorder are still hotly debated today. To make everything clear, Dr. Wakefield blamed vaccination for the development of autism. For all that, the symptoms of developmental disorder appeared to be present before a child was actually immunized. As a result, the given study was considered as predominantly an elaborated fraud aimed at dramatizing the need to prohibit vaccination. It is important to pinpoint that the aforementioned research was identified as fraudulent due to unethical behaviour in professional practice. One has to understand that Dr. Wakefield pretended to be a professional scientist who chose particular children to conduct his faulty study. The long lasting effects of this study can be seen in that “... a growing number of parents have refused vaccination for their children.” (Heinzerling, 2010, p. 2) However, when a British study has been debunked, those parents who refused to vaccinate their kinds in 2011 confronted serious concern about ongoing health problems that their children were likely to face due not being appropriately immunized.
Since today’s medicine does not have convincing evidence, which would make it certain that autism is caused by vaccination (DeStefano & Chen, 1999), it is important to cease being closed off to immunizing children. Indisputably, there are numerous risks for mental disorders while undergoing any kind of medical treatment. Regardless of this fact, it does not mean that vaccination can cause autism; evidently, the wildly spread misinformation about vaccine definitely impacts the society, since people eventually get confused and pass through the trial of uncertainty about what stance to take towards the vaccination of children.
Despite the fact that numerous questions cannot be answered by today’s medicine, what scientists know for sure is that autism occurs as a mental disorder that often appears in childhood. As for the stance against vaccines that many parents of autistic children take, one can assume that it occurs as an attempt to scapegoat vaccines for neurodevelopmental disorder. Overall, there are no official proofs to support the claim regarding the link between vaccines and the symptoms of autism in children. To conclude, it is high time to debunk the myth that vaccines are likely to cause autism, since the prevalence of such a widespread fear can lead to exceptionally negative outcomes. Nowadays, the true reasons why autism emerges to have its roots in many children are unknown. In other words, real causes of this mental health disorder remain a mystery. Yet, to discredit anti-vaccination theories, it is important to state that the symptoms of autism were revealed in those children who did not get the MMR vaccine. Additionally, the latest studies offer a new hypothesis concerning the time when autism appears; as a result, it has been hypothesized that autism develops long before the age of 24 months.
In sum, one has to be conscious that the claims about the relationship between vaccination and symptoms of autisms were taken seriously by many scientists; consequently, many fundamental researches were conducted in recent years, and a peculiar thing is that none of these studies found a causal link between the process of immunization and autism. Therefore, the U.S. society has to take a raft of measures, which would help come to understanding all the negative effects of misconceptions about immunization. The point is that disregarding the problem of misinformation obviously entails many risks, which cut the chances to protect children from serious diseases, respectively.
References
Ball, L., Ball, R., Pratt, R. (2001). An Assessment of Thimerosal Use in Pediatric Vaccines.
Pediatrics, 107 (5), 1147–1154.
Dales, L., Hammer, S. J., & Smith, N. J. (2001) Time Trends in Autism and in MMR
Immunization Coverage in California. JAMA , 285 (9), 1183-1185.
DeStefano, F., & Chen, R. T. (1999). Negative association between MMR and autism.
Lancet, 353 (9169), 1987-1988.
Farrington, C. P., Miller, E., & Taylor, B. (2001). MMR and Autism: Further Evidence
Against a Causal Association. Vaccine , 19 (27), 3632-3635.
Heinzerling, J. (2010). Recent Findings: Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Rx for Prevention , 1 (4), 1-8.
Miller, L., & Reynolds, J. (2009).Autism and Vaccination—The Current Evidence. JSPN, 14
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