Do vaccines cause autism, asthma and diabetes?

June 11, 2008

Almost 70% of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children do so because they believe vaccines may cause harm. Indeed vaccines have been blamed for causing asthma, autism, diabetes, and many other conditions--most of which have causes that are incompletely understood. Some parents believe that vaccines can "overwhelm the immune system."

To respond to these concerns about vaccine safety, the National Network for Immunization Information (NNii) writing team of Martin G. Myers, MD, and Diego Pineda have written a book titled, Do Vaccines Cause That?! A Guide for Evaluating Vaccine Safety Concerns.

"The authors of this volume have recognized the absolute need to provide parents with clearly understandable, science-based information about vaccines, immunization, and vaccine safety," write Samuel Katz, MD, of Duke University and Louis Sullivan, MD, of Morehouse School of Medicine, in the Foreword to the book.

This 272-page book is divided in two sections. The first section tells readers how best to weigh and evaluate what they read or hear about vaccine safety, emphasizing how scientists determine whether a vaccine actually causes a specific effect. The second section deals specifically with vaccine safety concerns such as asthma, autism, and autoimmune diseases, among others. The overall theme is to help readers arrive at conclusions based on science.

Source: Infectious Diseases Society of America