So I’ll just preface this by saying I’m really neither pro nor anti-vax. I find there is a lot of compelling evidence and reason to and not to vaccinate. So, in my reading it seems there are two kinds (and I’m stating this very simply) of autism; one that is more gut centered and one that is more brain centered. Some of the gut centered kids have improvement in their autism “symptoms” with certain changes in their diet. I have not read of anything that has shown improvements in the brain centered kids. So, could the increase in the numbers and types of vaccines be a reason that there seems to be an increase in the cases of autism? Is something in the vaccines, presumably the aluminum, affecting the gut and/or brain? I understand there have been studies on the safety of individual vaccines, but as far as I have read no safety studies on the combo vaccines, nor vaccinating for more than one disease at a time.
I’m keeping an eye on what’s going to happen with the couple of cases against Maerk that claim they’re 1) fudging the efficacy numbers on their MMR vaccine and 2) fudging the numbers on their autism study.
Back in the mid 1960s and before, there were many cases of autism and there were tons of papers and books written on this topic. Surprise, surprise, even back then, one of the possible causes was said to be older fathers.....which has, of late, been brought to the fore once again.
Also, autism has now been stretched to cover some rather "normal" behaviors.