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98-548: The Autism Science Foundation was created as a split from Autism Speaks, which assigned a high priority to investigating the debunked claim that vaccination is associated with autism risk. This focus raised concerns among parents and researchers. Alison Singer, a senior executive of Autism Speaks, resigned in January 2009 rather than vote for committing money to new research studies into vaccination and autism . The U.S. Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), of which Singer

196-440: A control group are unvaccinated. Such a study would never be approved because it would require deliberately denying children standard medical care, rendering the study unethical. Studies have been done that compare vaccinated to unvaccinated people, but the studies are typically not randomized. Moreover, literature already exists that demonstrates the safety of vaccines using other experimental methods. Other critics argue that

294-475: A pandemic as US President Gerald Ford had feared and the hastily rolled out vaccine was found to increase the number of Guillain–Barré Syndrome cases two weeks after immunization. Government officials stopped the mass immunization campaign due to great anxiety about the safety of the swine flu vaccine. The general public was left with greater fear of the vaccination campaign than the virus itself, and vaccination policies, in general, were challenged. During

392-869: A blood transfusion for a sick 90-year-old man was refused by his two daughters, due to vaccine hesitancy concerns. Another New Zealand couple stated that they were trying to arrange their child to have her next heart surgery in India, to avoid her being given blood from COVID-19 vaccinated donors. Other safety concerns about vaccines have been promoted on the Internet, in informal meetings, in books, and at symposia. These include hypotheses that vaccination can cause epileptic seizures , allergies , multiple sclerosis , and autoimmune diseases such as type   1 diabetes , as well as hypotheses that vaccinations can transmit bovine spongiform encephalopathy , hepatitis C virus , and HIV . These hypotheses have been investigated, with

490-462: A causal link to DTwP vaccination and SIDS after reviewing the available evidence. Additional analyses of VAERS data also showed no relationship between vaccination and SIDS. Studies have shown a negative correlation between SIDs and vaccination. That is vaccinated children are less likely to die but no causal link has been found. One suggestion is that infants who are less likely to develop SIDS are more likely to be presented for vaccination. In

588-451: A consensus is termed as a consensus conference. Such measures lead to a situation in which those within the discipline can often recognize such a consensus where it exists; however, communicating to outsiders that consensus has been reached can be difficult, because the "normal" debates through which science progresses may appear to outsiders as contestation. On occasion, scientific institutes issue position statements intended to communicate

686-411: A fever is indeed a precaution when considering vaccination. Vaccines remain effective during childhood illness. The reason vaccines may be withheld if a child is moderately to severely ill is because certain expected side effects of vaccination (e.g. fever or rash ) may be confused with the progression of the illness. It is safe to administer vaccines to well-appearing children who are mildly ill with

784-740: A founding board member of the Autism Science Foundation, donates all royalties from his book Deadly Choices to the ASF. The Autism Science Foundation also receives royalties from paperback sales of Dr. Offit's previous book, Autism's False Prophets . ASF is also the recipient of funds raised through Wall Street Rides FAR , the annual cycling and walking event that originated in White Plains and has since expanded to include satellite rides in Baltimore and Toronto. GuideStar named

882-573: A higher risk of bacterial superinfection with Group A streptococci . Natural measles infection carries a high risk of many serious, and sometimes life-long, complications, all of which can be avoided by vaccination. Those infected with measles rarely have a symptomatic reinfection. Most people survive measles, though in some cases, complications may occur. Among those that experience complications, about 1 in 4 individuals will be hospitalized and 1–2 in 1000 will die. Complications are more likely in children under age 5 and adults over age 20. Pneumonia

980-403: A link between vaccines and autism has been extensively investigated and conclusively shown to be false. The scientific consensus is that there is no relationship, causal or otherwise, between vaccines and incidence of autism, and vaccine ingredients do not cause autism. Nevertheless, the anti-vaccination movement continues to promote myths, conspiracy theories , and misinformation linking

1078-462: A more modest example, infections caused by Haemophilus influenzae (Hib), a major cause of bacterial meningitis and other serious diseases in children, have decreased by over 99% in the US since the introduction of a vaccine in 1988. It is estimated that full vaccination, from birth to adolescence, of all US children born in a given year would save 33,000 lives and prevent 14 million infections. There

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1176-422: A new vaccine is introduced, mass vaccination can help increase coverage rapidly. If enough of a population is vaccinated, herd immunity takes effect, decreasing risk to people who cannot receive vaccines because they are too young or old, immunocompromised, or have severe allergies to the ingredients in the vaccine. The outcome for people with compromised immune systems who get infected is often worse than that of

1274-530: A non-medical term, is the notion that giving many vaccines at once may overwhelm or weaken a child's immature immune system and lead to adverse effects. Despite scientific evidence that strongly contradicts this idea, there are still parents of autistic children that believe that vaccine overload causes autism. The resulting controversy has caused many parents to delay or avoid immunizing their children. Such parental misperceptions are major obstacles towards immunization of children. The concept of vaccine overload

1372-632: A period of "crisis". At this point, new theories would be sought out, and eventually one paradigm would triumph over the old one – a series of paradigm shifts rather than a linear progression towards truth. Kuhn's model also emphasized more clearly the social and personal aspects of theory change, demonstrating through historical examples that scientific consensus was never truly a matter of pure logic or pure facts. However, these periods of 'normal' and 'crisis' science are not mutually exclusive. Research shows that these are different modes of practice, more than different historical periods. Perception of whether

1470-788: A person's lack of confidence (mistrust of the vaccine and/or healthcare provider), complacency (the person does not see a need for the vaccine or does not see the value of the vaccine), and convenience (access to vaccines). It has existed since the invention of vaccination and pre-dates the coining of the terms "vaccine" and "vaccination" by nearly eighty years. " Anti-vaccinationism " refers to total opposition to vaccination. Anti-vaccinationists have been known as " anti-vaxxers " or " anti-vax ". The specific hypotheses raised by anti-vaccination advocates have been found to change over time. Anti-vaccine activism has been increasingly connected to political and economic goals. Although myths, conspiracy theories , misinformation and disinformation spread by

1568-512: A problem for politicians, policymakers, lawyers, and business professionals. Where scientific or philosophical questions can often languish in uncertainty for decades within their disciplinary settings, policymakers are faced with the problems of making sound decisions based on the currently available data, even if it is likely not a final form of the "truth". The tricky part is discerning what is close enough to "final truth". For example, social action against smoking probably came too long after science

1666-586: A result, in 1999, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) asked vaccine makers to remove thiomersal from vaccines as quickly as possible on the precautionary principle . Thiomersal is now absent from all common US and European vaccines, except for some preparations of influenza vaccine . Trace amounts remain in some vaccines due to production processes, at an approximate maximum of one microgramme, around 15% of

1764-440: A scientific consensus exists on a given issue, and how strong that conception is, has been described as a " gateway belief " upon which other beliefs and then action are based. In public policy debates, the assertion that there exists a consensus of scientists in a particular field is often used as an argument for the validity of a theory. Similarly arguments for a lack of scientific consensus are often used to support doubt about

1862-448: A scientific theory, but a single experiment could disprove one, science should be based on falsification . Whilst this forms a logical theory for science, it is in a sense "timeless" and does not necessarily reflect a view on how science should progress over time. Among the most influential challengers of this approach was Thomas Kuhn , who argued instead that experimental data always provide some data which cannot fit completely into

1960-408: A significant threat to human health. Omission and disconfirmation biases also contribute to vaccine hesitancy. Various concerns about immunization have been raised. They have been addressed and the concerns are not supported by evidence. Concerns about immunization safety often follow a pattern. First, some investigators suggest that a medical condition of increasing prevalence or unknown cause

2058-603: A sponsor of the "International Society for Autism Research" (INSAR) since 2009, and has interviewed numerous researchers at the event. In 2019, Alison Singer, the president of the ASF, announced that she had joined the National Council on Severe Autism . In 2020, ASF partnered with Els for Autism to form Sam's Sibs Stick Together, which aims to offer extra support for autism siblings, present findings of research that focus on siblings and discuss resources available for siblings of all ages. Vaccinologist Dr. Paul Offit ,

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2156-458: A strong safety record, there are ongoing needs for new adjuvants and more intensive research into adjuvants and their effects." In 2023, Łukasz Bryliński writes: "Even though its toxicity is well-documented, the role of Al in the pathogenesis of several neurological diseases remains debatable...Despite poor absorption via mucosa, the biggest amount of Al comes with food, drinking water, and inhalation. Vaccines introduce negligible amounts of Al, while

2254-416: A summary of the science from the "inside" to the "outside" of the scientific community, or consensus review articles or surveys may be published. In cases where there is little controversy regarding the subject under study, establishing the consensus can be quite straightforward. Popular or political debate on subjects that are controversial within the public sphere but not necessarily controversial within

2352-456: A theory, and that falsification alone did not result in scientific change or an undermining of scientific consensus. He proposed that scientific consensus worked in the form of " paradigms ", which were interconnected theories and underlying assumptions about the nature of the theory itself which connected various researchers in a given field. Kuhn argued that only after the accumulation of many "significant" anomalies would scientific consensus enter

2450-505: A third vaccine causes infertility. Thiomersal (called "thimerosal" in the US) is an antifungal preservative used in small amounts in some multi-dose vaccines (where the same vial is opened and used for multiple patients) to prevent contamination of the vaccine. Despite thiomersal's efficacy, the use of thiomersal is controversial because it can be metabolized or degraded in the body to ethylmercury (C 2 H 5 Hg ) and thiosalicylate . As

2548-423: A vaccination program successfully reduces the disease threat, it may reduce the perceived risk of disease as cultural memories of the effects of that disease fade. At this point, parents may feel they have nothing to lose by not vaccinating their children. If enough people hope to become free-riders , gaining the benefits of herd immunity without vaccination, vaccination levels may drop to a level where herd immunity

2646-439: Is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain about their use, or using certain vaccines but not others. Although adverse effects associated with vaccines are occasionally observed, the scientific consensus that vaccines are generally safe and effective

2744-623: Is a factor in causing autism. Since 2000, parents in the United States have pursued legal compensation from a federal fund arguing that thiomersal caused autism in their children. A 2004 Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee favored rejecting any causal relationship between thiomersal-containing vaccines and autism. The concentration of thiomersal used in vaccines as an antimicrobial agent ranges from 0.001% (1 part in 100,000) to 0.01% (1 part in 10,000). A vaccine containing 0.01% thiomersal has 25 micrograms of mercury per 0.5 mL dose, roughly

2842-437: Is a founding member of the ASF's Scientific Advisory Board. On January 5, 2011, Brian Deer published the first part of his British Medical Journal series on Andrew Wakefield 's "elaborate fraud" which started the dubious MMR vaccine controversy . On January 7, 2011, Alison Singer was interviewed by Kiran Chetry on CNN's American Morning . Singer discussed the repercussions of Deer's report, stating, "...we can finally put

2940-565: Is a tendency to project "winners" and "losers" onto the past in relation to the current scientific consensus, it is very difficult to come up with accurate and rigorous models for scientific change. This is made exceedingly difficult also in part because each of the various branches of science functions in somewhat different ways with different forms of evidence and experimental approaches. Most models of scientific change rely on new data produced by scientific experiment . Karl Popper proposed that since no amount of experiments could ever prove

3038-454: Is about the pain associated with administering vaccines during a doctor's office visit. This may lead to parental requests to space out vaccinations; however, studies have shown a child's stress response is not different when receiving one vaccination or two. The act of spacing out vaccinations may actually lead to more stressful stimuli for the child. Several vaccination myths contribute to parental concerns and vaccine hesitancy. These include

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3136-542: Is also supported by an overwhelming scientific consensus; it is one of the most reliable and empirically tested theories in science. Opponents of evolution claim that there is significant dissent on evolution within the scientific community. The wedge strategy , a plan to promote intelligent design , depended greatly on seeding and building on public perceptions of absence of consensus on evolution. The inherent uncertainty in science , where theories are never proven but can only be disproven (see falsifiability ), poses

3234-445: Is an adverse effect of vaccination. The initial study and subsequent studies by the same group have an inadequate methodology, typically a poorly controlled or uncontrolled case series . A premature announcement is made about the alleged adverse effect, resonating with individuals who have the condition, and underestimating the potential harm of forgoing vaccination to those whom the vaccine could protect. Other groups attempt to replicate

3332-426: Is anti-vaccine literature that argues that reductions in infectious disease result from improved sanitation and hygiene (rather than vaccination) or that these diseases were already in decline before the introduction of specific vaccines. These claims are not supported by scientific data; the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases tended to fluctuate over time until the introduction of specific vaccines, at which point

3430-421: Is flawed on several levels. Despite the increase in the number of vaccines over recent decades, improvements in vaccine design have reduced the immunologic load from vaccines; the total number of immunological components in the 14 vaccines administered to US children in 2009 is less than ten percent of what it was in the seven vaccines given in 1980. A study published in 2013 found no correlation between autism and

3528-419: Is ineffective. According to Jennifer Reich , those parents who believe vaccination to be quite effective but might prefer their children to remain unvaccinated, are those who are the most likely to be convinced to change their mind, as long as they are approached properly. While some anti-vaccinationists openly deny the improvements vaccination has made to public health or believe in conspiracy theories , it

3626-659: Is linked to increased sexual behavior is not supported by scientific evidence. A review of nearly 1,400 adolescent girls found no difference in teen pregnancy, the incidence of sexually transmitted infection , or contraceptive counseling regardless of whether they received the HPV vaccine. Thousands of Americans die each year from cancers preventable by the vaccine. There remains a disproportionate rate of HPV-related cancers amongst LatinX populations, leading researchers to explore how messaging may be made more effective to address vaccine hesitancy. Other concerns have been raised about

3724-481: Is little good alternative for policy makers than to rely on so much of what may fairly be called 'the scientific consensus' in guiding policy design and implementation, at least in circumstances where the need for policy intervention is compelling. While science cannot supply 'absolute truth' (or even its complement 'absolute error') its utility is bound up with the capacity to guide policy in the direction of increased public good and away from public harm. Seen in this way,

3822-496: Is most common in infants around the time in life when they receive many vaccinations. Since the cause of SIDS has not been fully determined, this led to concerns about whether vaccines, in particular diphtheria-tetanus toxoid vaccines, were a possible causal factor. Several studies investigated this and found no evidence supporting a causal link between vaccination and SIDS. In 2003, the Institute of Medicine favored rejection of

3920-444: Is much more common to cite concerns about safety. As with any medical treatment, there is a potential for vaccines to cause serious complications, such as severe allergic reactions, but unlike most other medical interventions, vaccines are given to healthy people and so a higher standard of safety is demanded. While serious complications from vaccinations are possible, they are extremely rare and much less common than similar risks from

4018-402: Is no evidence that aluminum-containing vaccines are a serious health risk or justify changes to immunization practice. Infants are exposed to greater quantities of aluminum in daily life in breastmilk and infant formula than in vaccines. In general, people are exposed to low levels of naturally occurring aluminum in nearly all foods and drinking water. The amount of aluminum present in vaccines

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4116-497: Is not linked to autism or developmental delay. Scientific consensus Scientific consensus is the generally held judgment, position, and opinion of the majority or the supermajority of scientists in a particular field of study at any particular time. Consensus is achieved through scholarly communication at conferences , the publication process, replication of reproducible results by others, scholarly debate , and peer review . A conference meant to create

4214-663: Is overwhelming. Vaccine hesitancy often results in disease outbreaks and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases . Therefore, the World Health Organization characterizes vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten global health threats. Vaccine hesitancy is complex and context-specific, varying across time, place and vaccines. It can be influenced by factors such as lack of proper scientifically based knowledge and understanding about how vaccines are made or work, as well as psychological factors including fear of needles and distrust of public authorities,

4312-545: Is small, less than one milligram, and such low levels are not believed to be harmful to human health. In 2015., N. Petrovsky, summarizing the current evidence on the vaccine adjuvants, writes: "Unfortunately, adjuvant research has lagged behind other vaccine areas... the biggest remaining challenge in the adjuvant field is to decipher the potential relationship between adjuvants and rare vaccine adverse reactions, such as narcolepsy, macrophagic myofasciitis or Alzheimer's disease. While existing adjuvants based on aluminium salts have

4410-446: Is the most common fatal complication of measles infection and accounts for 56–86% of measles-related deaths. Possible consequences of measles virus infection include laryngotracheobronchitis , sensorineural hearing loss , and—in about 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 300,000 cases — panencephalitis , which is usually fatal. Acute measles encephalitis is another serious risk of measles virus infection. It typically occurs two days to one week after

4508-411: The 2003 invasion of Iraq a wider controversy ensued in the media about requiring US troops to be vaccinated against anthrax. From 2003 to 2008 a series of court cases were brought to oppose the compulsory anthrax vaccination of US troops. The US swine flu immunization campaign in response to the 1976 swine flu outbreak has become known as "the swine flu fiasco" because the outbreak did not lead to

4606-475: The 2009 flu pandemic , significant controversy broke out regarding whether the 2009 H1N1 flu vaccine was safe in, among other countries, France . Numerous different French groups publicly criticized the vaccine as potentially dangerous. Because of similarities between the 2009 influenza A subtype H1N1 virus and the 1976 influenza A/NJ virus many countries established surveillance systems for vaccine-related adverse effects on human health. A possible link between

4704-432: The American Academy of Family Physicians all recommend routine flu shots for pregnant women, for several reasons: Despite this recommendation, only 16% of healthy pregnant US women surveyed in 2005 had been vaccinated against the flu. Aluminum compounds are used as immunologic adjuvants to increase the effectiveness of many vaccines. The aluminum in vaccines simulates or causes small amounts of tissue damage, driving

4802-405: The antigen number in the vaccines the children were administered up to the age of two. There were 1,008 children in the study, one quarter of whom were diagnosed with autism, and the whole cohort was born between 1994 and 1999, when the routine vaccine schedule could contain more than 3,000 antigens (in a single shot of DTP vaccine ). The vaccine schedule in 2012 contains several more vaccines, but

4900-490: The common cold . Another common anti-vaccine myth is that the immune system produces a better immune protection in response to natural infection when compared to vaccination. However, strength and duration of immune protection gained varies by both disease and vaccine, with some vaccines giving better protection than natural infection. For example, the HPV vaccine generates better immune protection than natural infection due to

4998-518: The 2009 H1N1 flu vaccine and Guillain–Barré Syndrome cases was studied in Europe and the United States. After the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines , vaccine hesitant people have at times demanded that they get donor blood from donors that have not received the vaccine. In the US and Canada, blood centers do not keep data on whether a donor has been COVID-19 infected or vaccinated, and in August 2021 it

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5096-476: The Autism Science Foundation a top nonprofit startup in disabilities category in 2011, calling it "a shining star to those interested in real science and evidence based interventions". In 2021, ASF earned top-rated status from GreatNonProfits for the ninth consecutive year. The Autism Science Foundation has 17 scientific advisory board members, including Ami Klin and Harold S. Koplewicz . Vaccine controversies#Autism controversies Vaccine hesitancy

5194-711: The MMR vaccine and autism. A Cochrane review concluded that there is no credible link between the MMR vaccine and autism, that MMR has prevented diseases that still carry a heavy burden of death and complications, that the lack of confidence in MMR has damaged public health, and that the design and reporting of safety outcomes in MMR vaccine studies are largely inadequate. Additional reviews agree, with studies finding that vaccines are not linked to autism even in high risk populations with autistic siblings. In 2009, The Sunday Times reported that Wakefield had manipulated patient data and misreported results in his 1998 paper, creating

5292-417: The alleged superiority of natural infection when compared to vaccination, questioning whether the diseases vaccines prevent are dangerous, whether vaccines pose moral or religious dilemmas, suggesting that vaccines are not effective, proposing unproven or ineffective approaches as alternatives to vaccines, and conspiracy theories that center on mistrust of the government and medical institutions. The idea of

5390-665: The anti-vaccination movement and fringe doctors leads to vaccine hesitancy and public debates around the medical, ethical, and legal issues related to vaccines, there is no serious hesitancy or debate within mainstream medical and scientific circles about the benefits of vaccination. Proposed laws that mandate vaccination, such as California Senate Bill 277 and Australia's No Jab No Pay , have been opposed by anti-vaccination activists and organizations . Opposition to mandatory vaccination may be based on anti-vaccine sentiment, concern that it violates civil liberties or reduces public trust in vaccination, or suspicion of profiteering by

5488-527: The appearance of a link with autism. A 2011 article in the British Medical Journal described how the data in the study had been falsified by Wakefield so that it would arrive at a predetermined conclusion. An accompanying editorial in the same journal described Wakefield's work as an "elaborate fraud " that led to lower vaccination rates, putting hundreds of thousands of children at risk and diverting energy and money away from research into

5586-476: The average daily mercury intake in the US for adults and 2.5% of the daily level considered tolerable by the WHO . The action sparked concern that thiomersal could have been responsible for autism. The idea is now considered disproven, as incidence rates for autism increased steadily even after thiomersal was removed from childhood vaccines. Currently there is no accepted scientific evidence that exposure to thiomersal

5684-644: The body to respond more powerfully to what it sees as a serious infection and promoting the development of a lasting immune response. In some cases these compounds have been associated with redness, itching, and low-grade fever, but the use of aluminum in vaccines has not been associated with serious adverse events. In some cases, aluminum-containing vaccines are associated with macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF), localized microscopic lesions containing aluminum salts that persist for up to 8 years. However, recent case-controlled studies have found no specific clinical symptoms in individuals with biopsies showing MMF, and there

5782-461: The conclusion that currently used vaccines meet high safety standards and that criticism of vaccine safety in the popular press is not justified. Large well-controlled epidemiologic studies have been conducted and the results do not support the hypothesis that vaccines cause chronic diseases. Furthermore, some vaccines are probably more likely to prevent or modify than cause or exacerbate autoimmune diseases. Another common concern parents often have

5880-679: The data on skin absorption (which might be linked with carcinogenesis) is limited and requires further investigation...Although we know for sure that Al accumulates in the brain, it is not fully understood how it reaches it." Vaccine hesitant people have also voiced strong concerns about the presence of formaldehyde in vaccines. Formaldehyde is used in very small concentrations to inactivate viruses and bacterial toxins used in vaccines. Very small amounts of residual formaldehyde can be present in vaccines but are far below values harmful to human health. The levels present in vaccines are minuscule when compared to naturally occurring levels of formaldehyde in

5978-418: The demand that policy rely only on what is proven to be "scientific truth" would be a prescription for policy paralysis and amount in practice to advocacy of acceptance of all of the quantified and unquantified costs and risks associated with policy inaction. No part of policy formation on the basis of the ostensible scientific consensus precludes persistent review either of the relevant scientific consensus or

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6076-567: The demands were becoming more common. In Italy and New Zealand , parents have gone to court to stop their children's urgent heart surgery, unless COVID-19 vaccine free blood was provided. In both cases the parents were ruled against, though they stated that they could provide willing donors they found acceptable. The New Zealand Blood Service does not label blood according to the donor's COVID-19 vaccine history, and as of 2022, about 90% of New Zealand's population over twelve years of age has had two COVID-19 vaccinations. In another Italian case,

6174-648: The diseases they prevent. As the success of immunization programs increases and the incidence of disease decreases, public attention shifts away from the risks of disease to the risk of vaccination, and it becomes challenging for health authorities to preserve public support for vaccination programs. The overwhelming success of certain vaccinations has made certain diseases rare, and, consequently, has led to incorrect heuristic thinking in weighing risks against benefits among people who are vaccine-hesitant. Once such diseases (e.g., Haemophilus influenzae B ) decrease in prevalence, people may no longer appreciate how serious

6272-412: The first trimester of gestation. This may have public health implications, as strategies for preventing infection include vaccination, simple hygiene, and, in the case of toxoplasmosis, antibiotics . Based on studies in animal models, theoretical concerns have been raised about a possible link between schizophrenia and maternal immune response activated by virus antigens; a 2009 review concluded that there

6370-435: The general population. Commonly used vaccines are a cost-effective and preventive way of promoting health, compared to the treatment of acute or chronic disease. In 2001, the United States spent approximately $ 2.8 billion to promote and implement routine childhood immunizations against seven diseases. The societal benefits of those vaccinations were estimated to be $ 46.6 billion, yielding a benefit-cost ratio of 16.5. When

6468-442: The healthcare-seeking behaviors of under-vaccinated children. Thus, no study directly comparing rates of autism in vaccinated and unvaccinated children has been done. However, the concept of vaccine overload is biologically implausible, as vaccinated and unvaccinated children have the same immune response to non-vaccine-related infections, and autism is not an immune-mediated disease, so claims that vaccines could cause it by overloading

6566-524: The human body and pose no significant risk of toxicity. The human body continuously produces formaldehyde naturally and contains 50–70 times the greatest amount of formaldehyde present in any vaccine. Furthermore, the human body is capable of breaking down naturally occurring formaldehyde as well as the small amount of formaldehyde present in vaccines. There is no evidence linking the infrequent exposures to small quantities of formaldehyde present in vaccines with cancer . Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

6664-409: The illness is due to a lack of familiarity with it and become complacent. The lack of personal experience with these diseases reduces the perceived danger and thus reduces the perceived benefit of immunization. Conversely, certain illnesses (e.g., influenza ) remain so common that vaccine-hesitant people mistakenly perceive the illness to be non-threatening despite clear evidence that the illness poses

6762-463: The immune system by measles lasts about two years and has been epidemiologically implicated in up to 90% of childhood deaths in third world countries, and historically may have caused rather more deaths in the United States, the UK and Denmark than were directly caused by measles. Although the measles vaccine contains an attenuated strain, it does not deplete immune memory. The idea that the HPV vaccine

6860-453: The immune system or compromise overall immunity. The lack of evidence supporting the vaccine overload hypothesis, combined with these findings directly contradicting it, has led to the conclusion that currently recommended vaccine programs do not "overload" or weaken the immune system. Any experiment based on withholding vaccines from children is considered unethical, and observational studies would likely be confounded by differences in

6958-442: The immune system go against current knowledge of the pathogenesis of autism. As such, the idea that vaccines cause autism has been effectively dismissed by the weight of current evidence. There is evidence that schizophrenia is associated with prenatal exposure to rubella , influenza , and toxoplasmosis infection. For example, one study found a sevenfold increased risk of schizophrenia when mothers were exposed to influenza in

7056-460: The immunity granted by vaccines is only temporary and requires boosters, whereas those who survive the disease become permanently immune. As discussed below, the philosophies of some alternative medicine practitioners are incompatible with the idea that vaccines are effective. Incomplete vaccine coverage increases the risk of disease for the entire population, including those who have been vaccinated, because it reduces herd immunity . For example,

7154-474: The incidence dropped to near zero. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website aimed at countering common misconceptions about vaccines argued, "Are we expected to believe that better sanitation caused the incidence of each disease to drop, just at the time a vaccine for that disease was introduced?" Another rallying cry of the anti-vaccine movement is to call for randomized clinical trials in which an experimental group of children are vaccinated while

7252-570: The initial study but fail to get the same results. Finally, it takes several years to regain public confidence in the vaccine. Adverse effects ascribed to vaccines typically have an unknown origin, an increasing incidence , some biological plausibility , occurrences close to the time of vaccination, and dreaded outcomes. In almost all cases, the public health effect is limited by cultural boundaries: English speakers worry about one vaccine causing autism , while French speakers worry about another vaccine causing multiple sclerosis, and Nigerians worry that

7350-417: The measles rash breaks out and begins with very high fever, severe headache, convulsions and altered mentation. A person with measles encephalitis may become comatose , and death or brain injury may occur. The measles virus can deplete previously acquired immune memory by killing cells that make antibodies, and thus weakens the immune system which can cause deaths from other diseases. Suppression of

7448-413: The measles vaccine is given to children 9–12 months old, and the window between the disappearance of maternal antibody and seroconversion means that vaccinated children are frequently still vulnerable. Strong herd immunity reduces this vulnerability. Increasing herd immunity during an outbreak or when there is a risk of an outbreak is perhaps the most widely accepted justification for mass vaccination. When

7546-471: The mid-1990s media reports on vaccines discussed the Gulf War Syndrome , a multi-symptomatic disorder affecting returning US military veterans of the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War . Among the first articles of the online magazine Slate was one by Atul Gawande in which the required immunizations received by soldiers, including an anthrax vaccination , were named as one of the likely culprits for

7644-547: The notion of anthropogenic global warming . In an editorial published in The Washington Post , Oreskes stated that those who opposed these scientific findings are amplifying the normal range of scientific uncertainty about any facts into an appearance that there is a great scientific disagreement, or a lack of scientific consensus. Oreskes's findings were replicated by other methods that require no interpretation. The theory of evolution through natural selection

7742-430: The number of antigens the child is exposed to by the age of two is 315. Vaccines pose a very small immunologic load compared to the pathogens naturally encountered by a child in a typical year; common childhood conditions such as fevers and middle-ear infections pose a much greater challenge to the immune system than vaccines, and studies have shown that vaccinations, even multiple concurrent vaccinations, do not weaken

7840-707: The paper. Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register , with a statement identifying deliberate falsification in the research published in The Lancet , and is barred from practicing medicine in the UK. The CDC, the IOM of the National Academy of Sciences , Australia's Department of Health , and the UK National Health Service have all concluded that there is no evidence of a link between

7938-476: The pharmaceutical industry. Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of large-scale vaccination campaigns is well established. Two to three million deaths are prevented each year worldwide by vaccination, and an additional 1.5 million deaths could be prevented each year if all recommended vaccines were used. Vaccination campaigns helped eradicate smallpox , which once killed as many as one in seven children in Europe, and have nearly eradicated polio . As

8036-499: The principles that autism has a strong genetic component, that vaccines do not cause autism, and that early diagnosis and intervention are critical. Eric London resigned from Autism Speaks' Scientific Affairs Committee in June 2009, saying that arguments that "there might be rare cases of 'biologically plausible' vaccine involvement ... are misleading and disingenuous", and that Autism Speaks was "adversely impacting" autism research. London

8134-476: The question of autism and vaccines behind us." Since 2014, ASF has hosted annual Days of Learning, TED-style science conferences. ASF offers numerous funding opportunities for scientists, and has been nationally recognized for its support of early career researchers. The organization currently offers pre- and postdoctoral fellowships, two-year post undergraduate fellowships, medical school gap year fellowships, and undergraduate summer research awards. ASF has been

8232-575: The same amount of elemental mercury found in a three-ounce (85 g) can of tuna . There is robust peer-reviewed scientific evidence supporting the safety of thiomersal-containing vaccines. In the UK, the MMR vaccine was the subject of controversy after the publication in The Lancet of a 1998 paper by Andrew Wakefield and others reporting case histories of twelve children mostly with autism spectrum disorders with onset soon after administration of

8330-412: The scientific community may invoke scientific consensus: note such topics as evolution , climate change , the safety of genetically modified organisms , or the lack of a link between MMR vaccinations and autism . There are many philosophical and historical theories as to how scientific consensus changes over time. Because the history of scientific change is extremely complicated, and because there

8428-600: The subject also appeared on the Salon website. The 2001 anthrax attacks heightened concerns about bioterrorism and the Federal government of the United States stepped up its efforts to store and create more vaccines for American citizens. In 2002, Mother Jones published an article that was highly skeptical of the anthrax and smallpox immunization required by the United States Armed Forces . With

8526-549: The symptoms associated with the Gulf War Syndrome. In the late 1990s Slate published an article on the "brewing rebellion" in the military against anthrax immunization because of "the availability to soldiers of vaccine misinformation on the Internet". Slate continued to report on concerns about the required anthrax and smallpox immunization for US troops after the September ;11 attacks and articles on

8624-523: The theory. For example, the scientific consensus on the causes of global warming is that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused primarily by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . The historian of science Naomi Oreskes published an article in Science reporting that a survey of the abstracts of 928 science articles published between 1993 and 2003 showed none which disagreed explicitly with

8722-680: The true cause of autism. A special court convened in the United States to review claims under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program ruled on February 12, 2009, that the evidence "failed to demonstrate that thimerosal-containing vaccines can contribute to causing immune dysfunction, or that the MMR vaccine can contribute to causing either autism or gastrointestinal dysfunction", and that parents of autistic children were therefore not entitled to compensation in their contention that certain vaccines caused autism in their children. Vaccine overload ,

8820-486: The two. A developing tactic appears to be the "promotion of irrelevant research [as] an active aggregation of several questionable or peripherally related research studies in an attempt to justify the science underlying a questionable claim", to quote the Skeptical Inquirer . Many parents are concerned about the safety of vaccination when their child is sick. Moderate to severe acute illness with or without

8918-428: The vaccine containing higher concentrations of a viral coat protein, while also not containing proteins the HPV viruses use to inhibit immune response. While it is true that infection with certain illnesses may produce lifelong immunity , many natural infections do not produce lifelong immunity, while carrying a higher risk of harming a person's health than vaccines. For example, natural varicella infection carries

9016-524: The vaccine schedule recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The immunization schedule is designed to protect children against preventable diseases when they are most vulnerable. The practice of delaying or spacing out these vaccinations increases the amount of time the child is susceptible to these illnesses. Receiving vaccines on the schedule recommended by the ACIP

9114-683: The vaccine. At a 1998 press conference, Wakefield suggested that giving children the vaccines in three separate doses would be safer than a single vaccination. This suggestion was not supported by the paper, and several subsequent peer-reviewed studies have failed to show any association between the vaccine and autism. It later emerged that Wakefield had received funding from litigants against vaccine manufacturers and that he had not informed colleagues or medical authorities of his conflict of interest : Wakefield reportedly stood to earn up to $ 43 million per year selling diagnostic kits. Had this been known, publication in The Lancet would not have taken place in

9212-483: The way that it did. Wakefield has been heavily criticized on scientific and ethical grounds for the way the research was conducted and for triggering a decline in vaccination rates, which fell in the UK to 80% in the years following the study. In 2004, the MMR-and-autism interpretation of the paper was formally retracted by ten of its thirteen coauthors, and in 2010 The Lancet ' s editors fully retracted

9310-433: Was 'pretty consensual'. Certain domains, such as the approval of certain technologies for public consumption, can have vast and far-reaching political, economic, and human effects should things run awry with the predictions of scientists. However, insofar as there is an expectation that policy in a given field reflect knowable and pertinent data and well-accepted models of the relationships between observable phenomena, there

9408-511: Was a member, voted against committing the research funds; this was contrary to the Autism Speaks policy on vaccine safety research. Singer said: Singer noted that numerous scientific studies already disproved the link first suggested more than a decade ago and that Autism Speaks needs to "move on." Later that year, along with NAAR's cofounder Karen London, Singer launched ASF as a nonprofit organization supporting autism research premised on

9506-526: Was estimated that 60-70% of US blood donors had COVID-19 antibodies. Research director Timothy Caulfield said that "This really highlights, I think, how powerful misinformation can be. It can really have an impact in a way that can be dangerous ... There is no evidence to support these concerns." As of August 2021, such demands are rare in the US. Doctors in Alberta, Canada, warned in November 2022 that

9604-473: Was insufficient evidence to recommend routine use of trivalent influenza vaccine during the first trimester of pregnancy, but that the vaccine was still recommended outside the first trimester and in special circumstances such as pandemics or in women with certain other conditions. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices , the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists , and

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