|
 Desperate
Measures
Armed with a new study, some parents say vaccines trigger
autism. But is skipping shots the answer?
People Magazine, September 27, 2004
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Armed with a new
study, some parents say vaccines trigger autism. But is skipping
shots the answer? Mike and Lynne Koufakis say their son Jake
came into the world a healthy, happy child. Babbling and smiling
as a newborn .he seemed to be developing normally. But at 18
months, not long after he received his routine childhood
vaccinations, he started to change. "He began slowing down,"
says Lynne. 45, a stay-at-home mom in Manhasset. N.Y. ‘He lost
eye contact and began withdrawing. He was a space cadet, out of
it."
Now 8, Jake Koufakis bus been diagnosed with autism -- the
second child in his family to have the disorder—and Mike and
Lynne Koufakis believe the vaccinations are partly to blame.
Their youngest, Jenna, 5, shows no signs of autism, but her
frightened parents have stopped vaccinating her altogether. The
Koufakises have joined a growing number of parents who suspect
Thimerosal -- a mercury-based preservative once commonly used in
childhood vaccines -- may be a factor in an apparent explosion
in autism cases in recent years. Experts have long said there is
no scientific data to support such fears, but a study published
in June by Columbia University has re-ignited the debate. The
report -- presented to a congressional sub committee Sept.
8—shows Thimerosal triggered autism-like symptoms in a strain of
mice genetically susceptible to autoimmune disorders (as are
many autistic children). While far from conclusive, activists
say the study offers some evidence that outside factors like
high mercury levels, not genetics alone may play a part in the
rising autism diagnoses. "Parents I know believe there is a
connection between vaccines and autism," says Lee Grossman,
chairman of the Autism Society of America. "It’s shocking to
find a lifelong disability at such high levels. If it were
cancer, people would be all over that."
Commonly used for more than 70 years, Thimerosal has been phased
out of all childhood vaccines since 1999; now it is present only
in tiny amounts in some inoculations. The ingredient remains in
most flu shots, which the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention now recommends for children between 6 and 23 months
(see box). That fact has fueled reluctance to immunize
children—to the frustration of doctors. Vaccines prevent
potentially devastating illness: says Dr. Gary Freed, professor
of pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School who
cared for a child who died of complications from measles because
he hadn’t been immunized. "His parents will never forgive
themselves—their child died of a disease that could have bacon
prevented." As for the Columbia research, Dr. Alfred Bert who
participated in a lengthily Institute of Medicine study that
rejected any connection between vaccines and autism, says. ‘It’s
a leap to translate what happened to the mice into the autistic
behavior of children."
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