Autism and Vaccines

Since the recent outbreak of the measles throughout the US, the topic of autism and vaccinations has surfaced. As a parent who has three children with autism, I felt I would be remiss if I did not share my experiences or opinion on the topic.

When my oldest son was diagnosed with autism I could not believe it. I honestly was in complete denial for a period of time. How did they know it was autism? I mean he was so young! I even took him to an autism expert just to be completely sure the diagnosis was correct. When I found out that my son did in fact have the disorder I began asking questions such as “how did this happen?” The doctor told me that it does not matter how it happened. I told the doctor that it did matter because I wanted to be sure that my other son was not exposed to whatever caused this disorder.  I asked him about the MMR vaccine. The doctor stated that the theory that autism was caused by the MMR vaccine was disproved.

After this appointment I stopped looking for the reasons “why” and focused my efforts on getting him the therapy he needed so he could be successful in life. When my son was three we enrolled him in a school that specialized in autism. This was really the first time I ever met anyone else who had a child with the disorder. When I met some of the parents I found out that they were not immunizing their children and I was completely appalled. All that went through my head was:

•    The shots do not cause autism!
•    Your child already has the disorder so what is the point of not vaccinating him?
•    How would you ever be able to forgive yourself if your child did contract a preventable disease because he was not immunized?

As time passed I learned of more and more parents of children without autism who were electing not to vaccinate their children. I could not understand the logic behind this. Today I have four sons and three of them were diagnosed with autism. Despite the diagnosis of my oldest son, my three other sons received all of their immunizations according to the schedule recommended by my doctor.

After my first son was diagnosed (and I knew the characteristics of the disorder) I watched my second son very closely for evidence of the disorder, but there was nothing evident. When my twin sons were born I again watched for the signs of autism and I did see evidence of the disorder prior to them receiving the MMR. Although this is anecdotal not scientific evidence, having four children (three of them with the disorder) offered me a unique perspective on this debate.

There is a reason that three of my sons have autism. I might not know what the reason is at this exact moment, but I do know that they were made the way God intended. If they were meant to have autism, there would be nothing that I could do to prevent them from developing the disorder. Not vaccinating them would not only hurt them, but also society – the recent spread of measles is proof of this!

It is not fair that parents could elect not to immunize their children and put society at risk. It is very sad that the individuals who cannot be immunized have to face potential harm because of the decisions of a few. Please immunize your children!

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails (Proverbs 19:21).