Why Do People Believe That Vaccines Cause Autism?
I keep track of stories on autism through Google Alerts. Normally there are very few stories about vaccines. Today, the majority of the stories were on vaccines and autism. There are two reasons why this is currently a big story. One is that the drop in vaccinations has led to some outbreaks of measles. The other reason is that recent surveys have shown that one in five people believe that vaccines cause autism.
There are plenty of blog posts out there on both sides. People argue passionately both pro and anti-vaccine. For full disclosure, I will say that I have two children with autism and I am still pro-vaccine.
My interest in this post is about why people are convinced that vaccines cause autism. It is not because there is overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccines do cause autism (the opposite is true). The one study that did show a link has been demonstrated to be false. So why is the anti-vaccine crowd so sure that there is a connection? Here are some reasons.
There are children who seem to develop autism after receiving a vaccination.
The question is, is it the vaccines that cause the autism or is it that symptoms of autism begin to appear at the same age as that particular vaccine? Our son showed signs of autism after the vaccination, while our daughter was diagnosed before that vaccine.
Pharmaceutical companies are easy targets.
I have lost count of the number of conspiracy theories that deal with pharmaceutical companies. I will not claim that pharmaceutical companies are perfect. I am only saying they are easy targets.
The diseases that the vaccines protect against seem so far away.
The idea of huge outbreaks of diseases like measles killing people seems like an unlikey outcome. All parents know is that autism is here and it is bad.
Parents need something to blame.
Autism is very hard. Theories that autism is caused by a mix of factors from genetic to an extremely wide variety of environmental factors seem too nebulous for parents. Vaccines give parents a narrower target to aim their anger at.
It gives people a cause.
Even if a child has already shown signs of autism, belief in a vaccine connection gives parents a cause to work for. It may be too late for their child, but it it may not be too late for the next generation. If the word got out about the dangers of vaccinations, then perhaps other children would be protected from autism.
My goal for this post is not to address every concern. All I am doing is trying to identify the motivation for seeing vaccines as causing autism. What I see tying these together is a strong emotional component. As a parent of children with autism, I understand how emotional it can be. At the same time, when it comes to causes, we need to rely on scientific research over emotional reactions.
