Wednesday, June 27, 2018

When Did Vaccines Start to Be Associated with Autism?

It has nothing to do with the quality of vaccines either.

Over the past decade, many things have changed in the world. People started using their phones as job sources, countries changed policies about this or that, the public opinion shifted towards this other thing. And not all shifts have been in a positive direction. One of the most significant, yet outrageous changes in opinion started way back in 1998 when a health professional created a theory that warned against the use of immunization techniques, claiming a relationship between vaccines and autism.

This claim was (and is still) supported by a large margin of the population, and it’s still one of the worst things to happen relating to contagious and preventable diseases. This has created a danger to the general society, all created by false claims of vaccines being a direct source of autism, and correlating to other developmental conditions. The one who started this phenomenon of fake claims: Doctor Andrew Wakefield.

Why did Dr. Andrew Wakefield related vaccines and autism?

Wakefield, a gastroenterologist and an investigator, selected a group of eight children with autism for his studies. Its conclusions pointed out only one shady fact: a correlation if the application of an MMR vaccine (for measles-mumps-rubella) with a gastrointestinal disorder the affected the pervasion of specific peptides into the brain tissue. He presented an investigation that showcased this conclusion, and led to a snowball effect: people assumed that vaccines had a significant impact on the increase of Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis. This against the reality, autism diagnoses increased by a better understanding of the diagnostic criteria.

Fast forward a few years, and the effect on society is almost impressive. Many people turned into staunch supporters of this theory, which prompted reputable scientist to challenge that affirmation. And the results of their investigation were terrific: the whole report of the new scientist proved that Dr. Andrew Wakefield performed his studies under almost illegal settings. The study was done without a control group, without in-depth analysis of the chemical defect that pointed out to the relationship between vaccines and autism. Without basis whatsoever, the study was debunked and Dr. Wakefield’s license, revoked.

His scientific misconduct banned him from practicing medicine. But the damage was done: people across the world now are believers of the relationship, and many avoid vaccinating their child based on the fake study that former Doctor Andrew Wakefield provided. This notion, reaching it’s 20th anniversary this year, is the proof that scientific knowledge can be used negatively.

At Autism Soccer we believe in the power of science to help people, and we do it with responsibility. That’s why children have instilled a profound love for sports, as science has a realistic backup when it comes to benefits for their development. Contact us to become a sponsor, or to be a part of our team.

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Vaccines help to prevent many different and dangerous diseases. They are unable to cause harm.

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Friday, August 11, 2017

Vaccination and Autism: Debunking the Myth

Confirm the veracity of this myth about vaccines and autism.

Knowing how to differentiate a myth from a fact can prove difficult sometimes. Most misconceptions are troublesome because they go way back in time, making them hard to stop existing. Sadly, there are many myths around autism. Between those, there’s a question that’s still in general discussion: Are vaccines responsible for autism? Before asserting a big “No,” let’s get some facts into this debate.

Public health, clinicians, and professionals have been in a constant fight against misconceptions related to vaccine safety for more than a decade. Numerous studies have completely dismantled this hypothesis and succeeded to prove there's no proved relation between autism and vaccines. However, there’s still an enormous amount of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children out of fear.

The current drop in immunization rates is directly related to the recent resurgence of several diseases (vaccine-preventable ones), which had even been eradicated for years. Most parents fear of vaccines with the concern of potential long-term side effects. This just worsens the risk of children contracting diseases (some of them with actual permanent effects or potential death risk) that could be prevented through vaccination in the first place.

Fear around vaccinations is entirely unfounded. The main source of this fear comes from an old study published in 1997, by Andrew Wakefield. It wasn’t only because of the study, but because it was released in The Lancet (a prestigious medical journal), that most readers ended up believing this misconception.

The article stated that the measles, rubella and mumps vaccine was increasing the autism rate in the children population. Luckily, these studies were discredited due to ethical violations and serious procedural mistakes. The paper was immediately retracted, and Andrew Wakefield lost his medical license afterward.

Even though this "study" was completely debunked, the hypothesis stayed in people’s minds, causing a snowball effect that has survived to this day. Thankfully, technology today has helped to fight this off, partly thanks to that in most of the cases the evidence of autism is discovered before the kids receive any vaccine.

No, vaccines do not trigger autism, they prevent diseases instead. Don’t think twice and get your children protected from any future complications. Also, there’s another tool you can get to lend your children a hand: put them to play some sports with Autism Soccer! They have been supporting the autism initiatives for many years now, contact them, and your children will thank you later!