The existence of a vaccine-autism connection has long been claimed by parents and long denied by government agencies. The question is particularly pertinent in Down syndrome because children with DS seem to be at higher risk for vaccine injury (with estimates of 5% – 10% rates of autism).
David Kirby posted a report of a concession of the US Gov’t in Vaccine Court on November 9, in which the government conceeded:
“The vaccinations received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder,” the concession says, “which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of ASD.”
Kirby has a lengthy analysis of this concession, worth reading by anyone concerned about the safety of vaccines (and all DS parents should be concerned about vaccine safety).
If the government is claiming that vaccines did not “cause” autism, but instead aggravated a condition to “manifest” as autism, isn’t that a very fine distinction?
and:
Its key words are “aggravated” and “manifested.” Without the aggravation of the vaccines, it is uncertain that the manifestation would have occurred at all.
When a kid with peanut allergy eats a peanut and dies, we don’t say “his underlying metabolic condition was significantly aggravated to the extent of manifesting as an anaphylactic shock with features of death.”
No, we say the peanut killed the poor boy. Remove the peanut from the equation, and he would still be with us today.
Full text of the case is here (from commenter tiredmom)
Filed under: autism, medical, vaccines | Tagged: ASD, autism, immunizations, shots
