Research: Autism and Immunization
Sep. 25th, 2009 08:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyssacMy assigned research topic for special problems this semester is Autism and Immunization. It's really quite interesting, but also hard to develop, because one side is very logical, and scientifically supported, but it is arguing against a very emotional counterpoint.
I don't believe that there is a causal link between immunization and autism and the research overwhelmingly supports this, but like I said in my paper: while there may be no conclusive evidence of a link, the suggestion of risk to their children is enough for many parents to opt out of immunizations, especially when they don't understand or believe in the risks associated with NOT immunizing. It's hard, because I get their point of view, I do...
In fact, I would choose not to give certain immunizations to my child... (the new HPV vaccine, and the Chicken Pox vaccine,) for various reasons. But I belive that these parents have been misinformed and misled by people preying on their fears (or in the case of the study that sparked this panic, deceived by people who have since admitted that their conclusions were false and motivated by a conflict of interest.
But when parents have lost their child to SIDS, or their formerly happy, healthy child now has some serious neurological problems and they have been given a likely scapegoat, how can you convince them that it's just coincidence or "bad things just happen to good people for absolutely no reason".
It's tough....
I may publish my paper on my personal website when it's done, if anyone is interested. Or, heck, maybe even if no one is.
I don't believe that there is a causal link between immunization and autism and the research overwhelmingly supports this, but like I said in my paper: while there may be no conclusive evidence of a link, the suggestion of risk to their children is enough for many parents to opt out of immunizations, especially when they don't understand or believe in the risks associated with NOT immunizing. It's hard, because I get their point of view, I do...
In fact, I would choose not to give certain immunizations to my child... (the new HPV vaccine, and the Chicken Pox vaccine,) for various reasons. But I belive that these parents have been misinformed and misled by people preying on their fears (or in the case of the study that sparked this panic, deceived by people who have since admitted that their conclusions were false and motivated by a conflict of interest.
But when parents have lost their child to SIDS, or their formerly happy, healthy child now has some serious neurological problems and they have been given a likely scapegoat, how can you convince them that it's just coincidence or "bad things just happen to good people for absolutely no reason".
It's tough....
I may publish my paper on my personal website when it's done, if anyone is interested. Or, heck, maybe even if no one is.
