One of the questions I'm asked most often is either, "should I vaccinate my child?" or "do you think I caused my child's autism when I vaccinated him/her for MMR?" For the most part I've tried to withhold judgement until I felt I had enough information. Since the GMC has rendered a decision I feel I can now form an educated opinion.
The GMC rendered an opinion on how Dr Wakefield's research was conducted. Their opinion was not whether there is a link with MMR vaccines and autism only whether the research of Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues was conducted following the proper procedures required of all scientific research. The document detailing their decision can be found here: GMC document. As I read through this document, I was surprised at how many issues there were with his research. There are many things that were done for which there was no approval to conduct that research or there was a conflict of interest due to being involved with an MMR legal case. I encourage you to read for yourself and determine if you are comfortable his research after you read this. I, personally, am not.
Dr Wakefield has issued a statement through the Age of Autism online newsletter. His statement can be found here: Age of Autism Statement. In his statement he states, "Our only “crime” in this matter has been to listen to the concerns of parents, act according to the demands of our professional training, and provide appropriate care to this neglected population of children."
As I read both the GMC findings and the statement from Dr Wakefield, I remember back when we were first looking for autism treatments for our two boys. The first time someone said to me, We can't wait for research to be done that would be too late for your boys, I was taken aback. Did they mean what they were recommending was not researched and if that's what they meant then how did I get in the studies that were surely going on? Or were they just after my money? At some point, I realized there wasn't any research going on and further more the autism experts had no plans of starting any research. Of course, at some point I also came to understand a very very large part of the reason they weren't starting research was because there was no funding for research. I can tell you I felt pretty hopeless. How were we, as parents, ever going to afford these treatments? Surely, insurance would never pay for anything that wasn't researched through the proper scientific channels.
While I've discovered that in some states some insurance is paying for treatments even those that don't have double blind placebo studies to back them up. I have to wonder, If twenty years ago the autism experts that dealt with my children had insisted on doing research that followed all the rules and proved that some of those treatments worked then wouldn't parents today have a much less of a cost burden and might we be further in our quest to find answers as to what causes this? Granted some of the treatments that people told me I absolutely must do for my children if I loved and cared for them are now gone. I more than others understand the urgency of treating these children now and not wanting to wait until research is done. I also understand that research can be our ally not our foe if it's done correctly.
To digress further on the shot issue, I don't necessarily think the current schedule for shots is right for everyone. I have and still do encourage parents to take the vaccination schedule at a pace they are comfortable and at a pace they have agreed with their physican is appropriate. I have found it interesting when listening to Defeat Autism Now! sessions and even Dr Wakefield's interviews I've never heard one of them say, Don't vaccinate your child. I feel parents should have some frank open discussions with the pediatricians about when to vaccinate.
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