By Leane Scoz
My husband was talking to one of our good friends, Jason, on the telephone the other night. Jason and his wife are expecting their first child any day now. He has been calling us for advice over the last nine months since my husband and I are also new to parenthood. I was not paying much attention to the telephone conversation until I overheard my husband discussing the vaccine/thimerosal controversy and trying to reassure our friend that vaccinating his child is the right thing to do. I immediately began blurting out my ideas on the subject until my husband had to end the conversation to calm me down.
The next day, I received an email from Jason telling me to go to the following link:
http://www.comcast.net/data/fan/html/popup.html?v=740175135
After viewing the news video clip, I frantically typed an email response to him. My husband joked that I was wearing out the keys on the keyboard because I was typing with such aggression. Before I hit the send button, I stopped to think about what I was doing. I realized that our friend is a soon-to-be new parent who is afraid of harming his child. He is simply trying to figure out the right things to do while being over influenced by the media during the process. I erased the entire email I had just spent a half hour typing and started over. I decided to simply provide him with the following link and told him to read it at his convenience:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal.htm
Since I currently work in the vaccine industry, it is no secret what side I am on concerning this controversial issue. My 10 month old son has received all of the recommended childhood vaccinations to date and will continue to receive the remainder of them. I would much rather know I am preventing diseases that could potentially kill my child by vaccinating him than to worry about something that has not been scientifically proven. However, I realize that these are my beliefs and my duty to my friend is to make sure he is educated on both sides of the issue to enable him to make the best decision for his child. Brainwashing him with my beliefs is not the answer and would probably cause even bigger concern for him.
I believe my friend represents most new parents and the fears they face when determining if vaccination will be beneficial to their child. In today’s society where the media plays such a large role in our lives, it is often difficult to decipher what is legitimate and correct.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 150 children in the United States develop Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The diagnosis of childhood autism typically coincides with the recommended time for childhood vaccines, leading many to speculate that a connection exists between the two. Thimerosal, a preservative used in vaccines, has been targeted as the cause. According to the CDC, thimerosal has not been used as a preservative in routinely recommended childhood vaccines since 2001. However, it has had zero impact on the rate of ASD, and combined with the lack of a plausible biological mechanism linking thimerosal to ASD, the scientific community has rejected the link between the ASD and vaccines.
Case closed, right? Wrong. A federal court case worth billions of dollars is currently underway. It involves the parents of over 4,800 autistic children who are claiming vaccines caused their children to develop ASD.
Because I work in the vaccine industry, I have to believe that what I do everyday is helping people rather than harming them. However, I can not help wonder how I would feel if I were the parent of one of those 4,800 autistic children. The last thing a parent wants to do is put their child through any unnecessary pain, illness, or even death. When science can not provide us with an answer, the decision becomes a personal struggle that parents ultimately need to deal with on their own. Hopefully, parents, such as my friend Jason and his wife, can make an educated decision they are comfortable with and enjoy a healthy, happy lifestyle with their children.
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2 comments:
I agree that this is a very controversial topic that evokes a lot of emotion on both sides of the issue, mainly because it affects the health and safety of our children. A little over a week ago, the university sponsored a symposium on “The Future of Vaccines: Challenges, Successes, Opportunities” with 4 well-known experts in the field of vaccines as panelists and a bioethicist as moderator. Before the symposium, we got numerous phone calls on the registration line expressing outrage on this topic. Some people asked us to cancel the symposium because of this possible autism/thimerosal link. We even had threats to protest the symposium for this reason, however, that never materialized.
Leane,
Nicely done. I can see how this issue really hits home with you. It can be hard sometimes to try and keep your views to yourself, even if you know you can help someone else. All you can do is provide them with the tools (facts) and leave it to them to make a decision.
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