Having recently posted Common Anti-Vaccination Arguments we have had lots of people responding in various Facebook groups with “yeah but…“ statements and brining up other things too. As such I felt that it was important to address these other arguments.
Autism (Again)
There has recently been a report on some Anti-Vax wordpress site that Autism is now a side effect for the TDaP Vaccine (Typoid, Dyptheria, Polio).
Firstly, these are listed as ADVERSE EVENTS and not POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS.
The difference between an adverse event and as possible side effect is the difference between correlation and causation.
An adverse event is something that has been reported to have been noticed post hoc. Autism is also an adverse event to ultrasound.
A side effect is something that can directly be attributed to the medication.
To put it in simple terms… Feeling bloated after eating too much is a side effect, having my right elbow ache after eating too much is an adverse event.
Adverse events are merely a list of reactions reported to the manufacturer by patients. When people spread false information, eg people report autism to the vaccine manufacturer, it has to be put on the list. This is not from a controlled study, and as stated in my previous article there are no legitimate studies that link autism to any vaccine.
Some people might consider this an “excuse” so let’s consider this not being an “adverse event” and being a genuine “side effect”.
These are the possible assumptions we can make:
- The insert has been filled in by a medical professional
- The insert has been filled in by a lawyer
- The insert is a hoax
ASSUMPTION SUMMARY
The insert has been filled in by a medical professional
If this is the case then we would see two key things happen
- This information would HAVE to be on the CDC, NHS and similar medical sites – it is not
- There would be MASS MEDIA coverage of such a claim
As neither 1 nor 2 have been fulfilled it is safe to assume that this is not true.
The insert has been filled in by a lawyer
The reason a lawyer might fill in the possible side effects to include things like autism is to protect lawyers/hospitals from future law suits.
However this is unlikely as it would
- Open up the hospitals/doctors to claims from patients
- If the insert was genuine, there would be MASS MEDIA coverage
The insert is a hoax
Unfortunately, there are many people out there with an agenda so it could quite easily be a hoax.
Options
- Disgruntled employee
- Fake insert from Anti-Vaxxer
- Altered insert by Anti-Vaxxer
Unfortunately these are all viable options.
Let us examine the source where this is posted.
To start, as I write this article I can only find this at ONE source. I am sure sites will start popping up using the SAME image but I doubt we will see any original images.
So, the ONE source.
“The Dreggs of the Future”
Initial thoughts
- Nice Template
- No Domain name
- Hosted on wordpress.com
From the above the person is at best a hobbyist blogger with little to no credibility.
Please note there is nothing wrong with using wordpress, it is a great CMS. The point was this person doesn’t even host their own site or have a registered domain in their name.
However let us examine some more
Links
Some of the links provided on the site seem to be fallacious in origin.
For example, there is a link to 124 research papers supporting the vaccine/autism link.
This is hosted on Scribbid.
Why are these papers not hosted on any reputable medical site?
Having read through some (I will admit to not reading through all of them) a large portion of the ones I read didn’t even seem to link vaccines to autism. They discussed having too many vaccinations close together causing adverse reactions, e.g. having the MMR vaccine with the Varicella vaccine (MMRV) increased the chances of seizure to 1/2500 (0.04%)
Some do seem to pose some genuine concerns with bad reactions to vaccines. It can happen, though is very very unlikely and often there is some underlying cause. None of these links seem to evidence Autism, and at best speak about vaccine caused encephalopathy (brain disease/malfunction) which might have similar symptoms to an ASD.
e.g. there is one a court case where someone won a lot of money for post vaccination trauma.
The link title is misleading stating that it is because the kids got autism.
The article goes on to explain that the information about the case is limited, that the money was awarded due to vaccine caused encephalopathy (brain disease/malfunction) which might have similar symptoms to an ASD.
Content
The site is full of conspiracy theories and pseudo-science.
For example:
- Chem Trails
- Tumours from Cell Phones
- Ascension to the 5th Dimension
- OBE
- Cultivating Dream futures to energise your highest potentials
- Crossing the Galactic Plane–and the photon belt
- No Plane Ever Hit World Trade Center 7–yet it fell
There are tonnes of articles that you can’t help but roll your eyes at, so why believe this one – unless all you are looking for is some form of confirmation bias?
I DON’T WANT CHEMICALS IN MY BODY!
This statement just shows how naïve anti-vaxxers are. For one there are constantly tonnes of chemicals in our body. Our blood is full of them. Our food is full of them.
The same people that don’t want chemicals in their body (in the form of vaccinations) will then go on to drink cough syrup, take pain meds, and some even smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol.
I READ THIS STORY
Because for course a fictional story is more important than the truth. This is often the logic of the Anti-Vaxxer. “I read this”, “My friend said”, “this one thing happened”.
Can you not see how off the wall these lines of thought are? How many “stories” do you read vs the number of vaccinations given per day. Even if every single story you hear was true the percentage would be so infinitesimally small in comparison to the risks from not being vaccinated.
DISEASE AND/OR DISEASE DEATH RATES WERE IN DECLINE
There is a little truth to this. Sanitation, general medicine, understanding of health and nutrition have all improved over the years and this has helped increase our immune response. For example with Measles the deaths were down to the mid-high hundreds in the 50’s.
These diseases were still around though, infecting many people and whilst the deaths may have been a small percentage, there were many people who suffered irreparable damage to their bodies.
In vaccinated countries we have gone from hundreds of thousands of infections and hundreds of deaths to 0-1% of the number of infections pre vaccination and very rarely any death.
Condoms are not 100% effective at preventing disease transmission, nor are they 100% effective at preventing pregnancy. Some people are allergic to the material they are made out of (which can vary) and some people are allergic to spermicide.
Extreme allergic reactions can kill.
Not all vaccinations are 100% effective, and some people may suffer adverse effects, especially if they have a genetic condition they are not aware of.
Back to the topic in hand though.
It is not surprising that the DEATH RATES were improving before vaccines were licensed. Medicine and supportive care was improving.
However, if you take a look at the incidents of infection (rather than focusing on number of deaths) you will see a different picture.
Of course since the anti-vax movement has taken up full swing we have seen an increasing number of cases of infection.
And that is just ONE of the vaccinations.
If survival rates have improved, isn’t it better to contract measles and build a lifelong immunity?
Apart from the fact that you are still risking death, these are the other side effects:
- Pneumonia (a serious lung infection)
- Lifelong brain damage
- Deafness
The chance of death or one of the above side effect from contracting measles is much higher than any of the incredibly rarely observed side effects from the vaccine.
If your issue is “risk” then there is a bigger risk with contracting the disease than getting vaccinated. The same can be said for other vaccinations too.
BUT WE WERE FINE BEFORE VACCINATIONS!
Pre Vaccinations in the early 1900s the Average life span in the US was 48 years (it was about 35 before that)
Since vaccinations the average life span is 77.7 years.
Whilst people used to build an immunity by getting the disease whilst young, there were tonnes of outbreaks and many reported deaths.
These preventable diseases are nearly eradicated, with very few instances of outbreak. Most of these are caused by people who have not been vaccinated.
When a vaccinated person contracts one of these diseases they have a much higher chance of fighting it off and surviving as they already know how to create the antibodies.
In countries where vaccinations are not as present we see a much higher number of outbreaks and deaths.
There are some that would like to peddle the thoughts that vaccinations are in some way bad for you. They peddle pseudo-scientific nonsense learned from their friends who clearly “know” more than the world’s leading scientists and doctors.
VACCINES DON’T WORK!!!
If the evidence so far doesn’t convince you, consider this. In 2000 measles was declared eliminated from the united states. Due to the anti-vax movement and increased outbreaks the CDC had to pull back from the declaration. There were 222 cases, 200 of which were confirmed to be from foreign sources but 22 did not have a confirmed source.
THE METHOD OF DELIVERY FOR VACCINATIONS IS NOT SAFE!
Please tell me why you think this. No?
OK, tell me how you would improve this. No?
So basically you are a nay sayer, except you don’t understand why and have no suggestions for improvement.
AREN’T VACCINES UNNATURAL?
No. Your immune system reacts to vaccinations in the same way it would the real disease. The benefit is you don’t get the illness. You might have some of the symptoms but most people won’t get sick at all.
I’m Joe. I write under the name Davidian, not only because it is a Machine Head song I enjoy but because it was a game character I used to role-play that was always looking to better himself.
This is one of many things I hope to do with Answers In Reason.
I run our Twitter and IG accounts, as well as share responsibility for our FB group and page, and maintain the site, whilst writing articles, DJing, Podcasting (and producing), keeping fit and more.
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