Vaccine Skepticism

I’ve had an on-going interest in the autism-vaccine debate in which parents opt-out of the measles, mumps, rubella (varicella, pertussis) vaccination series for their children. Of particular interest has been the case of Hannah Poling, the now nine-year-old diagnosed with a mitochondrial disorder that some believe was aggravated by a vaccine-induced fever that caused the child’s body to manifest autistic behaviors.

Earlier this week, an article in The Scientific American made the argument that the “genetic defect responsible for Poling’s condition is part of her nuclear DNA” rather than her mitochondrial DNA. Had the disorder been of the mitochondrial variety, the autistic features of the child would also have manifested themselves in the mother, as mitochondrial genes are carried in the egg. In this case, from the documents presented in the vaccine court, “the Polings did not make a case that deserved compensation,” this according to Dr. Salvatore DiMauro, a mitochondria expert at Columbia University.

That, in and of itself, raises some interesting questions, not the least of which involve autism as a set of traits rather than a disorder, how often these nuclear DNA disorders occur and are labeled as a manifestation of autistic traits, the implications for the vaccine court that awarded the Polings a settlement and what that decision means, symbolically, for those opting out of the vaccination series. With most experts in agreement that the underlying disorder would have been aggravated by any fever or infection, the relationship to the vaccination is a dubious one.

As the mother of a young child who did receive this series of vaccinations (and more to come - both children and vaccinations), living in a state where the ability to sign an exemption waiver for vaccinations is quite simple, working in health care where vaccinations seem to me to be obviously beneficial and socially responsible, and being presented with quite a significant number of parents in the area who choose not to vaccinate, of more general interest are the reasons why this link of autism to vaccinations or belief that vaccinations are of more danger than benefit has picked up such steam.

In my estimation, the argument, summed up in a comment made by one mother who was quoted in the NYT saying "I refuse to sacrifice my children for the greater good,” creates something of an ethical dilemma, not just for that parent to her child - in that the child is at a higher risk without the vaccinations - but for everyone else, and everyone else's children, who happen to come in contact with that child.

Both The Denialist and Respectful Insolence have insightful opinions on the subject.