MMR - did you get your child vaccinated?

Lalaladybird

My 1st was vaccinated and has autism...I don't think they're linked, my 2nd was vaccinated and does not have autism, my 3rd is due to be vaccinated and for some reason I am worrying about whether to get him done. Even though I don't think there is a link I'm still worried. Just wondering what other people on here did with their children re the MMR and did you worry or was it an easy decision?

pinkshoes

There is NO link between MMR and autism.

If you are worried, pay to have the 3 jabs separately.

The Daily Mail has a lot to answer for with this recent epidemic!

I

bossymoo

Both mine had the standard 3 in 1.

I heard about the ruckus, did my own reading, including the original paper, and thought "this is utter nonsense"

IIRC the original Wakefield study was based on a dozen or so autistic spectrum kids, and actually looked at the link between some digestive issues and autism. Incidentally most of these had the MMR.

But, such a small sample is not representative, nor was there a control group. Really you would need to look at several hundred non-MMR kids and compare ASD frequency with several hundred MMR kids. Which I understand has been done, and no statistically significant difference seen.

But it's emotive, and often MMR is given around the time that these traits would begin to present themselves, so you can see how a "perceived link" can come about when parents are in the thick of dealing with this.

balletshoes

It was a very easy decision for me - my daughter had the 3 in 1 MMR vaccination.

Mankysteve

If there is a hell "Dr" Andrew Wakefield has special level reserved from him.

I suggest pen &Penner bull poop video on other subject to cover where the concerns come from and why there a load of rubbish but it pretty much boils down to. (Ntfw or children)

1. Andrew Wakefield worked for the company that produced the single vaccine(while conducting scientific dubious and unethically experiments on children)
2. Autism rates have gone up but only because they've broadened the diagnosis indicators for autism coupled with better diagnosis techniques.( ie that odd kid in class when you grew up may have had autism)

Other children who are immune compromised rely on everyone else to vaccinated to proved them with herd protection.

floss2

Mine had it when it first came out - they are now in their mid twenties.

It was a no-brainer for me, as my brother was very ill with measles when he was a child.

Tigsteroonie

Andrew had the MMR jag and has ASD. Do I blame the jag? Not at all - and he'll be having his booster shortly. It's a very easy decision for me, there's no way I'm going to rely on others having been vaccinated when I can control this myself.

valk_scot

My #2 got the vaccination at the height of the ho-ha over the MMR. I did read the so called evidence carefully and asked my GP what she was doing, given that her DD was the same age as DS. She replied that the research was a load of drivel and scientifically unsound which was pretty well what I thought too (I have a hard science background) plus she'd had her DD vaccinated so I went ahead too. No problems at this end...or her's.

The bottom line with this sort of stuff is that association is not causality. If you chose a small enough sample and asked the wrong question, you could "prove" that autism is caused by next door's cat eating a certain brand of cat food. Seriously, this sort of fake study has been done just to show how unsound some so called "study" methods are. Add into that a good dollop of sensationalistic newspaper reporting done by completely scientifically ignorant journalists out to make a good pay cheque and what's the public to think? Anything they're told to think tbh.

And so it was with the MMR -autism study. There have been many studies done since then, of greater scientific rigor, which show there is no association. But of course these doesn't sell newspapers, do they?

I can understand the niggle of worry though given that you do have a child with autism. It may have been a modern old wives tale but it was a powerful one and the message still lingers. You should talk to your doctor or son's autism specialist, I'm sure they'll be reassuring.

mrcow

Why are you worrying or even associating the two?

You know that Andrew Wakefield is a highly unprofessional, highly unscientific fraudster? He has been ridiculed by his own profession. His "results" were obtained by highly unscientific means and were ripped apart at the first stage of peer review. His reputation is now (rightly) in tatters.

Why would you seriously choose to believe anything he's said?

mrcow

Mankysteve wrote: »

1. Andrew Wakefield worked for the company that produced the single vaccine(while conducting scientific dubious and unethically experiments on children)
2. Autism rates have gone up but only because they've broadened the diagnosis indicators for autism coupled with better diagnosis techniques.( ie that odd kid in class when you grew up may have had autism)

It was also found that he was guiltly of several counts of abuse against vunerable children. Just before he was struck off. The whole thing was about money, and his ego.

It's disgusting that we still now have parents that are worried or doubtful because of this awful man.

peachyprice

Bit of a no brainer really.