A new study published on 3/29/13 is the latest of more than 20 studies showing no connection between autism and vaccines.
What is noteworthy about this study is that it is the first to prove that neither the total number of early vaccines nor the total number of vaccine antigens (the proteins in vaccines that trigger an immune response) lead to an increased risk of autism.
This is an important study because it should help address the fear that pediatricians frequently hear from parents (and grandparents) that the modern multiple vaccine schedule will "overwhelm" their (grand)child's immune system.
This study concludes that children who receive the full schedule of vaccinations in the first two years of life have no increased risk of autism. "Splitting them up" is not going to lower the risk of autism and it delays protection against life-threatening infections in vulnerable infants and young children.
Also of note, in order to fully vaccinate a 2 year old the 2012 CDC vaccine schedule uses 315 total antigens, whereas in the late 1990s it took several thousand antigens to do the same job. This is because modern vaccines need fewer antigens to stimulate adequate immune responses.
To state it plainly, while we don't know why there had been an increase in autism prevalence over the last two decades, we do know that it is not due to a increased antigen load overwhelming the immune system. On the contrary, we have been able to add protection against more bacteria and viruses over the last 20 years while at the same time decreasing the antigen load.
Here is the NPR blog post about the Journal of Pediatrics paper:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/03/29/175626824/the-number-of-early-childhood-vaccines-not-linked-to-autism
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment