Over the last decade, autism has gone from a rare and misunderstood condition to a disorder that may affect as many as 1.5 million Americans. Without a clear explanation in sight, parents and doctors have worked tirelessly to pinpoint the cause of autism, but the answer remains elusive. Are vaccines the missing link?
From the time in 1998 that Andrew Wakefield published his since repudiated paper in the Lancet concerning the MMR, anti-vaccine believers have tried again and again to link autism causation to various vaccines.
As the science has progressed and closed off avenue after avenue, their beliefs have changed to try and fit. First it was MMR in the UK and Thiomersal in the US. Then it was both. Then it wasn't just these but the ingredients in all vaccines. then it was a combination of all the above, then it was the schedule vaccines were administered in.
Its a patently ridiculous state of affairs which has never been backed up by any quality science. It is time to move on and dedicate more time and money to things that will actually help autistic people - education, therapies, job schemes, housing schemes.
What our children need is a future, not a continual scrabbling about to blame something which is not at fault.
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