The bulk of credible science finds vaccines 'can and do' cause autism
But expect stepped up propaganda attacking those exposing and acting upon the facts
It's amazing how many media figures remain so uninformed on the proven links between vaccines and autism. Without knowing the subject thoroughly, they keep falsely claiming the links have been "debunked."
Quite the opposite.
I understand, because I was surprised, too, at what I learned when I was first assigned to cover the subject of vaccine safety at CBS News in 2001. At the time, I knew nothing about how vaccines work, scientific studies linking them to autism and many side other effects, or the medical and industry complex set up to defend them at any cost.
As an investigative reporter looking into this topic independently for more than two decades, I have helped expose a lot of what many are desperate to cover up. Some of my work on the topic has received journalism awards, and it has been cited favorably in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The news that’s been revealed in this time period, including compelling studies, testimony, court cases, and other evidence, is now easily accessible to any reporter who knows better than to simply google and get the industry and medical establishment approved narratives; or rely upon information from the vast network of groups, organizations, and fake “fact checkers,” ultimately set up by industry to spin us all.
With Donald Trump about to enter a second term in office, appointing and relying upon figures in public health who are familiar with the facts on these controversies (and willing to act upon them), we are already being exposed to incessant and increasingly desperate propaganda.
The propagandists have important connections and plenty of money to spend to wield influence, as they long have, with federal agencies, members of Congress, and in media. They support fake “fact check” groups like Health Feedback and Science Feedback, dominate social media narratives, provide “journalism resources” that give false information, control medical information distributed by our once-esteemed public health agencies, influence medical associations, and back nonprofits that are designed to sound independent but put out industry misinformation.
They have proven they will go to any lengths to protect their billion dollar profits and to try to stop any disruption of the corrupt medical establishment built to support them.
Below is a summary of some helpful information on links between vaccines and autism, with a few examples and links. Read on for details.
The US government has paid victims for many vaccine-autism injuries, including that of Hannah Poling, the daughter of a Johns Hopkins neurologist, who got autism and other injuries after her battery of vaccines. (The Department of Justice (DOJ) defends vaccine injury claims on behalf of vaccine makers in a special federal vaccine court.)
The DOJ and HHS had Poling's court case and payment sealed so that other parents wouldn't know about them, as CDC officials continued to publicly, falsely, imply the link between vaccines and autism was debunked. (The payment and case later leaked out, and I covered them at CBS News.)
The government has also paid vaccine-autism claims in children born with tuberous sclerosis, who have a particular known vulnerability when they get vaccinated, as do other children born with certain conditions, such as mitochondrial disorder.
The government has paid many other vaccine-autism claims in children, including some with no known pre-existing conditions.
The DOJs/vaccine industry's one-time chief expert witness, famed pediatric neurologist Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, changed his mind and came to understand vaccines "can and do" cause autism in certain cases. When he told this to DOJ years ago, they immediately fired him as their expert witness in defending vaccine injury cases, they hid his true expert opinion from the court and public, and went on to misrepresent him in court as if he hadn't changed his conclusions. Dr. Zimmerman signed a sworn affidavit saying all of this, and I reported the story on Full Measure. The fake fact check sites such as Health Feedback and Science Feedback have tried to undermine Dr. Zimmerman and his testimony, and the stories about it, because they are so meaningful.
Autism was listed on warning label of a common childhood vaccine that was later removed from the market. The label has been taken down from FDA’s website, site but you can find it captured on the Wayback Machine here.
In an interview with me, the CDC's chief vaccine official acknowledged the Poling vaccine-autism injury case and said "somebody" should study the possible links. (You can listen to the interview here.)
A senior scientist at CDC, Dr. William Thompson, signed a sworn statement, admitting that he and his CDC colleagues literally trashed data from an MMR study in black boys to try to reduce the strong vaccine-autism links it revealed. This was the subject of the documentary VAXXED that the media and industry widely tried to censor and "debunk."
The CDC senior scientist, Dr. Thompson, called the CDC head of immunization a “pathetic liar” in an internal email after alleged autism-vaccine coverups at the agency. (Read: “You are a pathetic liar”)
Former head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Bernadine Healy, reported years ago that the vaccine-autism link remained an open question, and said her colleagues in medicine had made an unethical decision not to study it further because they were afraid what the studies would reveal. (I reported this on CBS News, and Newsweek also reported it.)
There are hundreds (perhaps now thousands) of studies that link various things about vaccines, from the ingredients, to timing, to combination with other environmental and genetic factors, to the immune reaction in some kids, to what we call autism.
This is not to suggest vaccines are the sole cause of autism and autism symptoms, but many scientists believe they are a significant contributing cause.
So it is false, or at the very least misleading, for media figures to claim, "scientists say vaccines don't cause autism."
Journalists and other media figures, as well as politicians, who claim this issue was long ago settled haven't done their independent research, or are intentionally misrepresenting. In either case, they are serving to endanger health and doing all a disservice by forwarding one of the most well financed propaganda and misinformation campaigns of our time.
For more on medical and scientific information manipulation beyond the vaccine issue, please consider ordering my new bestseller: Follow the Science: How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails.
Additional resources regarding these stories and more can be found here:
https://sharylattkisson.com/2019/04/resource-links-to-vaccine-and-medical-stories/
It's amazing the power the media and the establishment have to mislead people. People will ignore the data showing the damage and the reasons for it, yet will continue to follow their "trusted authorities" and the media.
Good article. Thanks Sharyl.
Just this morning, on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Host Kristen Welker repeatedly interrupted a guest with the line, “just to be clear, there’s no evidence vaccines cause autism.” I guess you can make such an assertion when the alleged lack of evidence takes the form of government and pharma-paid researchers reaching the conclusions they’ve been told to reach
I wonder how many hundreds of millions of dollars NBC has received for drug commercials.
And, how non-surprising that a shill like Welker would dutifully recite the company/party obfuscations like a good little soldier