Jenny McCarthy takes on panelists on Larry King Live

I love my dr and I trust his judgement. I trust b/c I have seen first hand the things he has found. So when he says that it's better to go ahead and give my child the shots, I do....Does this make me a bad parent? No. Do I think they might be the cause of autism? No, I personally do not, but I'm not going to pass judgement on those who do or who spread out their child's shots. That's their choice as a parent. Just as it's my choice as a parent to listen to my doctor.

I think why makes some people upset is that some of you give the impression that it's wrong not to spread out the shots and that they are not doing the research on the shots.

Reply

To those who argue "Well, my kids got all their shots on time and they didn't get autism, so your theory is bunk" :

My aunt has smoked all of her life. She doesn't have lung cancer. So should we stop telling people that smoking causes lung cancer, because we can clearly see that some smokers don't get cancer. Those others who do? Must have been just a genetic link, right?

People who want a delayed or adjusted schedule for vaccinations aren't uninformed idiots. They have done their research, they know the risks on each side. Some of the research into autism can't show proof either way about vaccinations. There is still a lot of mystery about this condition, and one court has determined that vaccines led to autism in that specific case, so clearly the blanket statement that "vaccines don't cause autism" isn't accurate either.

Autism does seem to have a genetic component to it, but there is likely a set of environmental "triggers" also. Why is it so hard to believe that overloading a still-developing system with 7 or 9 vaccines at once could be one of those triggers if a child has that genetic predisposition?

My older daughter had all of her shots on time. She is autistic. Knowing that our family likely has that genetic predisposition, I'm using a delayed schedule for my second daughter, and her pediatrician thinks it is a wise decision.

Reply

I think the way Jenny McCarthy is presenting her argument does more harm than good. To say"I'd take measles any day" is COMPLETELY disrespectful to the families of children who DIE from this entirely preventable disease. I'm sure those parents and the parents of children who have died from other preventable diseases would take autism over their child's death anyday. Because we (as Americans) are so LUCKY as to not have to deal with these diseases and their fatality on a daily basis (thanks to vaccination), as people do in underdeveloped countries, we have begun to take for granted the vaccines that protect us. I'm not saying that her point is wrong: I'm all for research in vaccinations and their impact on children. But her APPROACH is so inflammatory and VENGEFUL, she's scaring people into not vaccinating their children, therefore putting ALL of us at risk. She says that she supports vaccination but certainely not as many times or as loudly as she says "if I could do it over, I would not vaccinate" I applaud her for fighting for her son, but she needs to be responsible with her language and not act and speak out of anger. Of course, she's trying to find out what caused her son's autism...but is she doing it to help others or to find out "who to blame"? I find it surprising that in all the discussion about autism I hear, that the only "Cause" I hear of is vaccines. No one wants to bring to light that the parents age might have something to do with it. Women who give birth after age 35 have a significant increase in all kinds of birth defects and conditions in their children and the risk doubles after age 40. The same goes for men. And with more and more people waiting to have children toill later in life, how can that not be a factor? What about all the enviromental toxins we are exposed to everyday? I think it's a combination of all of these, including of course, genetics. And I think more research has to be done, needs to be done. But she needs to tone it down and think before she opens her mouth.

Reply

Here's an idea - why don't idiots like Jenny McCarthy, Autism Speaks, and EVERY SINGLE ONE of you totally clueless "concerned parents fighting for the children" just STFU and listen to us autistics? Oh, yeah...because you don't like what we have to say...like we don't WANT to be "cured". No rational person would ever want his brain to function as inefficiently and randomly as an NT's. Everything you all do to "help" us is clearly designed to actually suppress, oppress and destroy us. Our numbers grow daily. With luck, we will outnumber you before you can implement your genocidal plans. Don't worry - we'll build nice institutions for you NTs and make sure you get the BEST care as we diligently work toward a cure for your horrible affliction.

Reply

After reading all your comments I think the people that are spouting off negative comments about what Jenny Mcarthy and people who agree with her say should look at the bigger picture!!! Not just that these vaccines may cause Autism that we don't know at this stage, but that the fact that children under 2 are given so many vaccines so quickly. It is not just autism related problems that are linked to MMR. My eldest son (now 8.5) has always had bad reactions to his vaccines but his MMR was by far the worst. I could completely empathise with Jenny when she talked about her son dying for 2 minutes. 8 days after my son having his MMR he came down with Measles he had such a high temp that he was convulting on the doctors bench, he was whisked away from and took into recovery then continued to projectile vomit like something out of the exorcist it was like living my own horror movie, to this day I have never heard a child scream like he did that night. He was very ill for the following 6 weeks developing chicken pox and a secondary vius called roseola. Until this point my son had been a perfectly happy little boy who was developing well. Within a year it started to go down hill... So from the gae of 3 onwards we went for every test imaginable to get a diagnosis. He doesn't have autism although that was predicted several times he has a form of epilepsy which causes learning difficulties. This all a side I saw report from a doctor in the UK stating that 1 in so many 100 children would have a bad reaction 1 in so many 100 would have a convulsion and 1 in so many 1000's would get brain damage from measles. Well my son got measles from having the bloody MMR!!! And YES he had a bad reaction YES he had convulsions AND YES his brain is damaged!!! Maybe if his little body had not had to cope with son much in 1 go he might of had a chance to fight off these virus'. After reading you maybe surprised to know I have allowed my other children to have immunisations. My 2nd son is only 18 months younger than my other son so I was unaware of the full repercussions of what had happened when he went for his. Although I was very nervous. However I have a daughter who is 1 and I am amazed about how many extra jabs have been added in just 5 years!! I took her for her MMR last week (I was physically sick 3 times before we got to the doctors) not only did the give her an MMR but she had to have a pneaumonia vaccine also. How much is too much really? Yes I think being able protecting our kids against all these horrible diseases is great and we are very lucky but it needs to be structured safely. If that means it costs more to space them out then so be it. While years ago we had epidemics of children dying from measles etc... We don't need it turned around to have an epidemic of children with brain damage (of any kind) caused by over immunisation!!! One final little rant to all those sceptics.... Until you have seen your perfect child go through what mine did, or what Jenny and Jims did then don't judge what we are fighting for we are mothers and fathers who know are children and know how they were and how they are now, that is a lot more precious than any medical degree.

Reply

Not sure if it's been pointed out yet but many of us who have children with autism don't think vaccines caused it.. we think vaccines contributed to it or triggered it into active mode.

Because of this we are not vaccinating our daughter AT ALL until at least age 2 and only the most important ones, separately and spaced out.

You may think certain diseases are so bad, but that's trying to say autism is a day in the park? Those who want to deny any correlation obviously haven't lived with a family member having autism! I wish he'd gotten measles instead ok?

I see no reason to vax babies against Hep when it's an STD! I don't see a reason to give Vit K when it can be done orally! Measles, Mumps.. pretty much never fatal! Chicken Pox.. COME ON where do we draw the line? When does the common cold vaccine come out? *eyeroll*

Doesn't anyone realize that many people still get these diseases even being vax'd against them? I think my son and I both had Whooping Cough last year and we've both been vaccinated and had all the boosters available for our ages. My cousin got the measles and was vax'd.

Just because YOUR kid got all the vaccinations and didn't develop autism doesn't mean there's no link! Does autism run in your family? Do you even KNOW? I wish every day I could turn back the clock and put that autism monster back to sleep.

Reply

Eugene, there is still mercury in vaccines. You are truly naive to just take the word of professionals you don't even know! It's all about money. The autism/vac studies were all bankrolled by the manufacturer's of the same vaccines (conflict of interest anyone?). Doctors are trained to believe vaccines must be given or we're all doomed, etc. I don't believe for one second you truly did any research on this at all.

Reply

Wanted to also comment on the post about other triggers. I feel vaccines are the trigger for my son's autism.. but yet I'm still taking precautions with my baby in other ways. We are using BPA free plastics, hormone free soaps, chemical free diapers, eating more natural foods, and more. Somewhere something went wrong wtih my son and while my intincts point the finger at vaccines (and my instincts are usually dead on.. so much it's creepy), I'm not ruling out other possibilities. If my daughter has autism as well, I can at least feel a bit less guilty that I could have prevented it and didn't.

Doctors are not GODS. I used to trust them.. and now I don't.. for so many reasons and not just because of vaccines. I can't believe how 'hippy' I've become over having my eyes peeled open at so many things wrong with the world today.

Reply