Dr. Wakefield and the Ongoing Vaccine Debate.

I just finished a chat with someone who wanted to know what I thought of Dr. Wakefild being called out as a fraud.  Families were questioning if vaccines played a role in their children's ASD before they knew about Dr. Wakefield. I remember seeing 90% of families gathered in a room discussing autism on 60 Minutes, raise their hands when asked "Who here believes vaccines triggered their child's autism?".  I don't know what causes autism, but I know families have no answers and most are skeptical of big pharmaceuticals, which will continue to drive the debate.


The bottom line is until science really does discover and agrees' on the causes of autism and can explain its dramatic increase, parents will not stop drawing their own conclusions and doing everything they can to help their kids, because they have not choice!  Sadly, this will include treatments and interventions that are both good and bad.  


Remember families get a diagnosis of a lifelong illness and they are sent home to deal with it on their own, to do the best they can.  Imagine being in that position.  I think we need to stop spending time blaming and put all of our energy into getting adequate funding to find a cure and ways to improve the quality of life for everyone living with autism...until there is a cure.