Caplan on autism and vaccines

Our own Art Caplan weighs in on the increasingly hard to discount evidence rejecting a link between thimerosal (once included in vaccines) and the increasing prevalence of autism in children. (The short explanation: autism rates continue to rise years after thimerosal's removal from vaccines, suggesting very strongly -- if not proving -- that other factors are responsible.)

In today's Philadelphia Inquirer, Caplan writes in an op-ed titled "Fact: No link of vaccine, autism":

"This nation's future, its national security, the safety of its health-care institutions, and the safety of its citizens depends upon vaccination. It is way past time that message got heard by parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, hospital administrators, the media and politicians. If there has been a more harmful urban legend circulating in our society than the vaccine-autism link, it is hard to know what it might be. At a time when vaccines may be our last best hope in facing some of the greatest challenges we and our children face, this legend needs to be put to rest. Vaccination, not vaccine-bashing, is what this nation needs."

The continued focus on a vaccine link to autism (at the expense of other research directions) has long been a source of tension among many in the autism advocacy community. Even with this news, however, signs point to critics of U.S. vaccination policy continuing to argue that vaccines are still somehow linked to autism, via as an-yet-unknown alternate mechanism now that thimerosal is no longer a likely candidate. For more on this shift in strategy, see this post by Barbara Loe Fisher.