Vaccines and autism: the debate over a link

There are two main debates over links to autism and vaccines. One is over the preservative thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in vaccines from the 1980’s until 2003. The type of mercury in thimerosal is a neurotoxin that clears the body in 6 weeks and in theory should not be enough to do any harm. Babies getting vaccinated during this time, however, were injected with numerous injections exceeding the recommended safe levels of the FDA.

The CDC conducted several studies and found that thimerosal could not be responsible for the huge growth in autism cases, but held hearings in secret causing mistrust and fueling conspiracy theories.

The other main debate is over links between the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine and autism. The MMR is a live-virus vaccine that some people believe negatively impacts children born with compromised immune systems. The immune weakness may be genetic or environmentally induced, but these children cannot properly pass the virus. The virus remains in the gut causing an immune response and inflammation, ultimately spreading to the brain potentially causing damage and autism.

The NIH and CDC both say there are no links between vaccines and autism, but parents think there is more to the story and are going to continue researching the connection.

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