Autism fears lead some parents to not immunize children

Autism fears lead some parents to not immunize children
Fear that shots cause autism leads some to wait or forgo them
By Shari Rudavsky
Posted: November 29, 2008Read Comments(17)Recommend E-mail Print Share Del.icio.us Digg Reddit Yahoo Google A A Trained as a physical therapist and married to a pharmacist, Julie Funk did not question the routine vaccinations that doctors gave her son Jason. But just before his second birthday, Jason was diagnosed with autism.

And Funk, who lives in the Castleton area, started to question the safety of vaccines. Like many in the autism community, she had heard the debate over whether vaccinations contribute to or even cause autism, an increasingly common neurological disorder.


When Funk's daughter was born in October of last year, she opted against vaccination. Allison showed no signs of autism, and Funk said she wasn't taking any chances.

Around the country, there is debate over what role, if any, vaccinations play in autism, and many parents are deciding against immunizations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many scientists say the preponderance of evidence shows there's no link.

But many parents of children with autism dispute that claim, pointing to alternative studies they say prove there's a connection.

In the wake of this debate, some states have seen the numbers of schoolchildren with exemptions for vaccines soar, although the majority of children in school today have been immunized.

In New York, for example, immunization exemptions have nearly doubled since 1999, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. This year in Oregon, about 4 percent of schoolchildren have exemptions, but in one Oregon community, one-quarter of kindergartners are exempted from at least one vaccine, the Oregonian newspaper reported.

In recent years in Indiana, the numbers of medical and religious exemptions have remained stable, at less than 1 percent each. Last year, of about 84,000 kindergartners, 249 children were exempted from immunizations for a variety of medical reasons, and about 560 were exempted on religious grounds.

Indiana does not track the reason for the medical exemption, whether it is because of autism or another condition, such as allergies or cancer, said Dr. Joan Duwve, the state's medical director for human health services and preparedness.

While medical exemptions require a doctor's verification, any parent can file for a religious waiver on the grounds that their personal beliefs prohibit vaccination.

"I would say most of the people who are concerned about autism probably are choosing -- and this would just be my assumption -- to file a religious objection," Duwve said.

Funk says she likely will vaccinate her daughter before she enrolls her in school.

But for now she thinks it's safest to wait. "I don't believe there's a need for it when they're so young," she said. "I think vaccinations are very important, but they're giving too many to little babies."

Some physicians agree. Dr. Mary Lou Hulseman, with Fall Creek Family Medicine in Indianapolis, specializes in the care of children with autism. She recommends parents not vaccinate children with autism, and that parents of children who seem healthy should proceed carefully.

Those who are wary of vaccines think autism may be a form of mercury or other heavy metal poisoning. Children who develop autism may be unable to rid their bodies of certain toxins, stressing their immune systems and producing the neurological symptoms associated with autism, Hulseman said.

While thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative Eli Lilly and Co. created but no longer makes, has been removed from most vaccines, those who question vaccine safety say trace amounts of it and other toxins, such as aluminum, remain.

"We can't get rid of all the mercury and lead in our water," Hulseman said. "But I think we need to look at vaccine policy. That's something we can do."

Rather than giving five vaccines at once, Hulseman advocates spreading them out. Her nonautistic patients never receive more than two injections at one visit, and never when a child is ill, she said.

For her patients with autism, Hulseman prefers to wait until she has evidence that the physical symptoms -- such as immune dysfunction and impaired nutritional status, symptoms she views as part of the disease -- are addressed before vaccinations.

Abolishing vaccines altogether is not the answer, she said.

"It's not that vaccines are bad in themselves," she said. "I'm concerned that unless we look carefully at our immunization policy, more parents will stop vaccinating. We need to start vaccinating more judiciously."

At the Christian Sarkine Autism Treatment Center at Riley Hospital for Children, Dr. David J. Posey, center chief, advises that parents follow government recommendations and vaccinate their children.

The preponderance of evidence shows vaccines work and are safe -- even for those who have autism, he said.

"The efficacy of these vaccines is based on trying to get as many people vaccinated as possible," Posey said. "If you start to whittle away at that, eventually you start to run the risk of increases in the incidence of those diseases that the vaccine is trying to prevent."

In communities and countries where fewer than 90 percent to 95 percent of children receive vaccinations, such as England and Japan, outbreaks of preventable diseases such as measles are occurring.

Before routine immunizations, measles killed about 450 children each year in this country, Duwve said.

But not every parent is willing to take the mainstream medical authorities' word that vaccines can be trusted.

After doing extensive research, Fishers father Dave Tuckman thinks vaccines contributed to both of his sons' autism, as well as many others'. His 8-year-old was fully vaccinated, and his 4-year-old was exposed to the flu vaccine, which contained thimerosal, in utero.

When his older son was diagnosed four years ago, the Tuckmans stopped immunizing the younger boy. Mainstream medicine just has not shown the practice is safe, he said.

"There's this medical dogma that vaccines are the greatest boon to mankind and nothing can be wrong about them," he said. "If your child has already been damaged, you don't want to take a chance on making it worse."

Both Tuckman boys have medical waivers. And Tuckman has no intention of continuing vaccinations for his younger son.

"Let me put it this way," he said. "I'll take the chickenpox or the measles over autism any day of the week."

Immunization waivers
The relative increase in Indiana kindergartners with waivers for religious reasons could be caused by fears over the suggested link between immunizations and autism, some experts speculate.


School year Children enrolled Medical waivers Religion waivers
2007-08 84,154 249 557
2006-07 84,754 311 540
2005-06 96,213 219 434
2004-05 80,495 315 510
2003-04 81,544 2,151* 363
2002-03 84,722 614 297
2001-02 82,274 424 272
2000-01 78,122 739 308


*A vaccine shortage the year before likely increased the number of medical exemptions, as children may have been misclassified as exempt when the immunization was appropriately deferred.

Sources: Indiana School Immunizations Reports, Indiana State Department of Health Data and Statistics Reports

• Call Star reporter Shari Rudavsky at (317) 444-6354.
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