If any of you have been watching CNN over the past week or two you know that they have been relentlessly reporting on autism from every conceivable angle. I suppose this makes sense since April is Autism awareness month, but the constant in your face flogging of the issue has made me intensely paranoid. Every time Jack flaps his hand or shakes his head I become convinced that he is regressing developmentally. The thing most disturbing about autism is that it appears out of nowhere, for unknown reasons, often after a child has made significant developmental progress, and there is no cure. Autism has become an epidemic in this country. 1 in 153 children by some accounts fall somewhere on the autism spectrum, an increase of 172% from the levels of the 1990s, and no one knows why. There is a large, vocal group of parents that is convinced that the development of the disorder in their own children is related to vaccinations they received, specifically the MMR vaccine, although other vaccinations were also suspected. Although studies thus far have failed to show a correlation between any vaccine and the development of autism, there is compelling anecdotal evidence and some question as to whether the existing studies, all funded by the pharmaceutical industry, were free of taint. Many, many parents relate stories of taking their children in for multiple vaccinations only to see their formerly bright bubbly children descend into introspective madness within a week of being inoculated. This is some scary shit.
Against this backdrop I had to take Jack to his 12 month physical to receive his booster vaccinations. He actually had his physical the day before his birthday but I held off on the shots because his big party was the next day and I didn’t want him to be crabby and tired as he usually is after receiving a few shots. I decided before taking him in that I would speak to his doctor about delaying the MMR vaccine until he was two years old (and splitting the vaccine into its separate components) and his immune system was more developed. I girded myself for a battle, since I fully expected to be lectured on voodoo science and how the danger of measles, mumps and rubella far outweighed the minimal risk of vaccinations. Imagine my surprise when his doctor not only agreed with me but admitted that there were a lot of unanswered questions about the nexus between vaccines and autism and it was therefore better to err on the side of caution. She wrote me a script for a split vaccine and I let Jack get his HiB and HepB booster shots which he was none too happy about but which I was relatively sure were less dangerous than the MMR.
Of course, if I want Jack to go to daycare I have to comply with New York State Law and ensure that he has received the MMR vaccine. I understand the public health impetus behind such a law, but I also note that certain exceptions are made for religious beliefs. Section 2164 (9) of the NYS law states in relevant part: "[t]his section shall not apply to children whose…parents, hold genuine and sincere religious beliefs which are contrary to the practices herein required, and no certificate shall be required as a prerequisite to such children being admitted or received into school or attending school." In order to invoke the exemption a parent must (1) hold a religious belief against vaccination, as opposed to a belief founded upon medical or purely moral considerations; and (2) sincerely hold such belief. It is not required that the parents belong to an organized Church, but it is required that, “the opposition to inoculation…must stem from religious convictions and have not merely been framed in terms of religious belief so as to gain the legal remedy desired." Matter of Sherr v Northport-E. Northport Union Free School Dist.
So, the state is willing to grant an exception to people based on their belief in fables and fantasy with no grounding in science, yet the rationalists who believe that drug companies are only interested in making a profit and haven’t adequately explored the safety issues are left to twist in the wind. Seems sort of unfair, doesn’t it?
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