Do vaccinations cause autism? This question has been posed by a number of individuals in the health sciences. It wasn't until recently that the final answer to this question was found. Before that point in time, numerous articles could be found that supported this claim as well as denied it. While searching the web for articles supporting both sides of this debate I found it was much easier to find credible sites for the negative. The first site I found was from Duke Medical. It provided a Dr.'s testimony that stated, "There is simply no evidence supporting this assertion". I also found a site from the CDC which stated, "the evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism". Lastly, I found a Forbes article that indicated that the HuffPost Health still believes that vaccinations causes autism. Just based off of the URLs of these articles, I put more faith in the first two articles simply because they are a .org and a .gov while the later is a .com. Because these articles only provide claims, it is hard to find errors in the data analysis. Knowing this, if asked to, I would put my money on the first two sites.
http://www.dukehealth.org/health_library/advice_from_doctors/your_childs_health/mmr_vaccine_and_autism,
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Concerns/Autism/Index.html,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2011/02/11/huffington-post-still-believes-vaccines-cause-autism/
This topic is interesting; I have never thought about the negative side effects towards vaccinations. I do not think that this would be topic that I remember in 5-10 years since it is still under debate. I think that with almost all medicines that we put in our body, there are some side effects. I think that until there is an extreme amount of evidence saying that vaccinations cause autism, people will continue.
This is an interesting debate that I had never heard of before now, probably partially because it doesn't even seem all that plausible. The fact that Forbes is publishing anything on this topic is also somewhat bizarre to me, considering it is primarily a business magazine and has no experience in this field, regardless of what external sources it cites. I agree that Duke and CDC seem to be far more credible sources for this debate.
Same with me I have never heard of this debate until now. It's curious to hear how they are trying to correlate vaccines to autism. I don't know if I completely agree with you on the ending of a url. Granted the fact that .gov and .org are more reliable then say .com that doesn't negate the possibility that their information isn't valid. After reading the first article from Duke Medical and the Forbes article I agree with you that the Duke Medical would be more reliable in this circumstance. Interesting topic to post a blog about, good job.
Well written article first off. And i am like others where i have never really heard of this debate until reading your post. I find it really amazing that people would think they do because when you think of a vaccination you automatically think of good side effects? Your links helped a lot and thanks for this well written article on this new debate to me!
This is a very interesting topic. I liked how you mentioned the credibility of the sites where you gathered information. It is definitely important to have good sources to back up your claims. Also, I think this issue really puts our thoughts into perspective and we really see how afraid some people may become over claims of this magnitude.