How many doses of a vaccine can you take before you develop autism? 2 doses? 5 doses? Try digesting the fact that it doesn’t matter at all. Receiving vaccinations and being diagnosed with autism have been scientifically proven to be unrelated.

If autism is caused by vaccinations, then car accidents are caused by air traffic controllers. Despite the recent spike in claims that autism in children is directly linked to vaccines, there has never has been any scientific proof to support the fantasy epidemic fabricated by media. The media is more interested in exciting stories than actual scientific evidence. Effective vaccines aren’t entertaining; autism-inducing vaccines are exciting! In reality vaccines immunize children and adults against potentially life-threatening diseases, and while vaccines may include minor side effects, autism is not one of them.

In America model Jenny McCarthy made one-sided claims that her son’s autism had been caused directly by vaccines. The media quickly caught on, causing  a national panic based on the scientific claims of a model. Within 5 years the number of parents who refused or delayed vaccinating their children grew by 18% to a precarious 40%. Unsurprisingly, the media-induced epidemic, so to speak, resulted in an increased number of cases of measles, mumps, and whooping cough, all of which had not been reported of in decades.

Autism is a neurological disorder that presents itself during the early years of a child’s life, but is no way connected to vaccines that are taken or not taken. This comes from experienced doctors and scientists, not the less-informed, flashy marketing personalities on TV. Vaccines must undergo an extensive process before being deemed safe enough to be used for human consumption. After a disease is identified to be vaccinated, in depth studies and experiments must be conducted to create a potential vaccine. The news reporting industry doesn’t especially care for scientific specifics when there are claims of autism to be reported, but clear, sensible thinking should prevail over the smoke and mirrors. In the final step of the process the vaccine must gain public confidence in order to be used by doctors and other professionals in the pharmaceutical industry. Because of this, the spread of the rumour that vaccines can cause autism can not only prevent rumour-believers from getting vaccinated, but can even hamper everyone else from receiving newer vaccines.

Concerned parents cannot be solely blamed for the breakdown of common vaccination practices; they are in the shadow of the overextending media. The power of information rests more in the hands of the story-telling industry than the scientific community, as clearly demonstrated by the preposterous idea of “autism-inducing vaccines”. There is no doubt media has a tremendous influence on daily life but it is our independent responsibility to be critical of the truthfulness of the stories we are presented with.