The Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice published a report for the Institute of Medicine (IoM). In that report, the researchers found that there was no compelling evidence to support the claims made by some that vaccines or the ingredients in them contribute to autism or any other disorder.
There has been a lot of noise in the press in the past several years, by both amateurs (Suzanne Sommers, etc.) and medical professionals debating the possibility that vaccines or something added to them, such as preservatives, cause or lead to autism, or in some cases other disorders. Now, research done by the IoM shows that such claims have no basis.
To reach these conclusions, the team from the IoM studied over 1000 research studies performed by a vast array or research groups around the globe over a period of several years. Their conclusion was that nothing in the research indicates that children given vaccines to prevent diseases had a higher degree of prevalence of autism, epilepsy, diabetes, facial palsy, or asthma.
On the other hand, the team did find evidence that certain vaccines did seem to cause seizures and inflammation of the brain on very rare occasions. The team also found that the vaccine for chicken pox could pose a risk for pneumonia, meningitis or hepatitis in later years due to a weakening of the immune system.
The study was undertaken by request from an unnamed federal agency to address the lingering doubts that many parents experience about the possibly of vaccines causing harm to their children. Also of concern was the growing number of lawsuits being filed by parents who believe that certain vaccines caused their children harm.
The study backs up the claims long held by the medical establishment that autism suddenly appearing shortly after a child received a vaccine is due to statistical averages, rather than anything in the vaccine. The point being, that autism tends to show up in children right around the same time that they are being immunized, making it appear as if the vaccine were the cause, rather than a simple coincidence.
The IoM also noted in the report that it hopes this new study will put parent’s mind at ease so that they will have their children immunized so that they won’t fall victim to the disease the vaccines were created to prevent. The new movement by parent’s to withhold vaccination has caused the medical establishment to worry that the country is headed for new outbreaks of previously “conquered” diseases.