Autism and vaccines

There has been increasing press about a possible link between autism and vaccines due to a family recently being awarded monetary damages from a vaccine court. At this time there is no medical evidence of any link between autism and vaccines. The details of the recent case, including the reason for the payment has not yet been made public. What makes the case unique is the patient had a rare mitochondrial disorder that was causing autistic features. At this time the cause of autism is not known for most kids but there are many known underlying disorders that have autistic features, including some mitochondrial disorders and congenital rubella (to name a few). Childhood Health Associates of Salem strongly supports the use of vaccines in all kids as the best method of prevention for many serious infectious diseases. Please check out the links below for people from various sources who are more eloquent than I on this very important topic.

* "Autism and Vaccine Safety from the AAP":http://www.aap.org/new/autisminfomain.html
* "Vaccines are Safe from Newsmax.com":http://www.newsmax.com/health/vaccine_safety/2008/03/06/78358.html
* "Transcript from recent discussion at the CDC with the media":http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/transcripts/2008/t080307.htm
* "CDC page on autism":http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/
* "What if we stopped vaccinating?":http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/whatifstop.htm
* "San Diego Measles outbreak update":http://www.elcaminopediatrics.com/MeaslesOutbreak.htm
* "NYT opinion piece written by Paul Offitt":http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/opinion/31offit.html