Does the MMR vaccine cause autism? This is the essential question that each parent should ponder prior to injecting their child with the MMR vaccination.
The answer is largely divided between conventional medicine and the holistic community. Evidence supporting the claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism includes parental reports, court case verdicts, multiple research studies and animal research. Deniers of the connection refer to vaccine studies which are considered flawed or biased by those in the holistic health community. [1, 2]
In the end, each person must decide for themselves what to believe.
Parental Reports
The most emotionally moving claim of the connection between the MMR vaccine and autism is the observation by parents of sharp behavioral decline in their infants after receiving the MMR vaccination. Parents describe their perfectly healthy babies suddenly experiencing rapid and dramatic behavioral decline following the MMR vaccination.
For many of these children, their recovery never occurs and they continue to suffer from symptoms diagnosed as autism. A brief summary of what happened to Valentino, a child of Italian parents who won awards by the Italian court for damages to their son, follows:
“We started having to put food into his mouth. It was as though he was a baby again.
‘It was as if we’d gone to the vaccination clinic with one child and had been given another to take home. Valentino was not interested in what was happening around him any more. He could not concentrate on a single thing.’
But worse was to follow. The little boy stopped sleeping at night. He would wake up and scream in pain. During the day he ran around in circles without stopping. His parents were getting exhausted and were at their wits’ end.
Maurizio explains: ‘About two weeks after the jab he began screaming every night. He woke up three or four times each night and cried. It was like something out of The Exorcist. He was obviously in pain and we could do nothing to comfort him.’
They went back to the vaccination clinic for advice. ‘We were not being over fussy but the medical staff did not seem to grasp the gravity of the situation,’ added Antonella.
The clinic just gave them some cream to put on Valentino’s skin. After six months of no improvement in his condition, they took Valentino to the casualty department of the local hospital.
For the first time Antonella mentioned that the MMR vaccine might be to blame. ‘They said it was not possible,’ she says.
Bewildered, the couple still looked for answers. Valentino was still screaming at night and like a wild child during the day.
When he was nearly two-and-a-half (14 months after the jab), they went to see an expert in neuropsychiatry and told her that their son had changed after the jab.
Antonella says: ‘She did not even write down what I was saying. She downplayed the situation, although she said he was not developing normally for a child of his age. But she could not offer any explanation and said it might be temporary in such a young boy.’
Desperately, they started to do some research on the internet. It suddenly occurred to them, after reading of other parents’ experiences, that Valentino might have autism.
When this was confirmed by the Milan children’s clinic, he was put on a milk-free and gluten-free diet.
‘Within a week, Valentino was sleeping at night and not shouting out in pain,’ says Maurizio.
‘He started to look us in the eye for the first time since the jab. He began to feed himself again. Progress was slow, but at last there was some hope.’
But, sadly, it was too late to find a complete cure for Valentino. At nine years old, he will never lead a normal life, and may need care for the rest of his days. ” [3]
Most famously, as of recent, actor Robert DeNiro publicly shared his wife’s observation of their child’s regression after vaccination in an interview on the Today show. DeNiro’s 18 year-old son suffers from autism. [4]
Who more than parents should be respected for their observations of such significant behavioral changes in their children after receiving a vaccination? Dr. Andrew Wakefield first publicly reported on this connection in a research paper published in 1998. [5]
Court Cases
Multiple court cases have ruled in favor of connecting the MMR vaccine to autism, both in the US and abroad. On June 16, 2012, reporter Sue Reid of the UK Daily Mail shared the outcome of the Valentino Bocco court case in which Judge Lucio Ardigo determined that Valentino’s autism was caused by the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination he received at age nine months.
In Unanswered Questions From the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, 83 cases of vaccine-induced brain damage that included autism were identified from a small sample of cases the government compensated for vaccine injury. A significant number are MMR cases.
Monkey Studies
A 2010 study comparing vaccinated with unvaccinated monkeys showed biological changes and altered behavior in the vaccinated monkeys which resembled those observed in autistic children. The unvaccinated monkeys showed no abnormal symptoms.
[6]
Research
In 2004, the most damning research connected the MMR vaccine to autism. The cover-up was revealed by lead CDC scientist Dr. William Thompson, whose testimony was shared before Congress. Those involved in the research destroyed data linking the MMR vaccine to autism in African-American infants. [7]
Most famously, Dr. Andrew Wakefield published a case study report of 12 children and shared the connection between the MMR vaccine and the development of autism in his 1998 report in The Lancet.
To examine 22 studies which link vaccinations with autism, explore this link.
Conclusions
Parental reports, research and court cases have combined to show there is a connection between the MMR vaccination and autism. Meanwhile, conventional physicians and government groups maintain vaccination safety. Who will you choose to believe?
References:
- http://www.ageofautism.com/2016/04/did-the-cdc-censor-vaxxed…
- http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism.html
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160054/MMR-A-mothers-victory…
- http://www.today.com/video/robert-de-niro-on-anti-vaccine-film-controversy…
- https://vactruth.com/2016/04/23/doctor-andrew-wakefield/
- https://vactruth.com/2012/04/29/monkeys-get-autism/
- http://www.ageofautism.com/2015/07/breaking-news-congressman-posey…
About the Author:
Michelle Goldstein is a mental health therapist who is passionate about holistic health, natural healing, nutrient-dense foods and the politics that impact them. She has published articles for Natural News, VacTruth, and other health websites. All of her published articles to date can be found at her health website, Holistic Health to Go. She can also be followed on her Facebook Page, Holistic Health to Go.