Vienna, Virginia http://www.909shot.com
“Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982.”
Contact: 703-938-0342
For immediate release
April 24, 2001
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a
non-profit organization representing families with vaccine injured children
have endorsed some of the conclusions of the report released yesterday by the
newly created Institute of Medicine (IOM) Immunization Review Committee on the hypothesized
link between MMR vaccine and autism. But the nation’s largest and oldest
vaccine safety and informed consent advocacy group is questioning whether
misinterpretation and misuse of the Committee’s conclusions will compromise
public health agency commitment to funding vaccine safety research.
The Institute of Medicine Committee concluded that “the
evidence favors rejection of the causal relationship at the population level
between MMR vaccine and autistic spectrum disorders” but also stated that “the
proposed biological models linking MMR vaccination to autism spectrum
disorders, although far from established, are nevertheless not disproved.” The Committee also called for further
scientific research on the occurrence of autism in children following MMR
vaccination.
“The Committee clearly acknowledged the biologic
plausibility that MMR vaccine could be a co-factor in causing autism in some
children. But the message this report may send out, in practical terms, is that
there is absolutely no association between vaccination and autism and that the
case is closed. It can be used by those in industry, government and medical organizations
with a vested interest in protecting the status quo.” said NVIC co-founder and
president Barbara Loe Fisher. “This would be tragic because it could fatally
compromise the making of vaccine safety research a priority in our society and
delay the search for identification of biological markers that could predict
which children are more vulnerable to vaccine-induced neuroimmune dysfunction
that can, in some, take the form of autism.”
NVIC has long advocated that scientific research into
vaccine-associated autism, learning disabilities, attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, asthma, and other chronic neuroimmune disorders explore
the cumulative effects of multiple vaccines in genetically susceptible
children. In the past 30 years, as vaccine recommendations have increased
routine childhood vaccinations to 37 doses of 11 different vaccines, there has
been a dramatic rise in the numbers of chronically ill children in the US,
including a doubling of those with learning disabilities, asthma, ADHD and
diabetes. Autism is now affecting 1 in
150 children.
“The conclusion of the IOM Committee that current
scientific evidence favors rejection of a causal association between autism and
MMR vaccine should not be taken out of context. There has been limited
scientific research to date to investigate the relationship between vaccination
and autism and until a more rigorous examination is conducted, the case is
open, not closed,” said Fisher.
·
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