[Bluto]

This is total layman's opinion on my part, but hopefully some common sense will prevail in this post.

Common childhood diseases most likely wont affect your neurological health any more than it did in the past when you actually got the full dose of the virus and either lived or died. The Mumps or the Measles in of itself probably would not cause autism. So a vaccine with dead virus for your immune system to work on is less likely to cause anything neurological from happening. I would rule out the dosage of the vaccine in of itself.

Given that, I don't believe that we are doing our kids any favors these days on the vaccine front for a few reasons:

1: There is no money in these vaccines. MMR, Polio and Whooping Cough and all of the other childhood ailments are treated by vaccines that were created 60 years ago, and if you cant afford your child's vaccine, the Government pays for it through SCHIP. There is no one in BigPharma who wants to spend money on research for a new vaccine for these diseases if you are forced to be paid the same as something that you came up with 60 years ago. Vaccines are made cheaply today.

2: They are probably getting them earlier than you did and more of it. Most of us did not live in Day care as a toddler. These days the majority of mothers are dropping their children off at daycare as soon as their maternity leave is up. That everyday exposure goes from the occasional grandparents and household family that you and I had to that exposure plus 30 different kids and their families, and the care takers and her family. No doubt that Pediatricians let alone day care centers have accounted for this so that babies get their shots as early as possible so that they can be with the general population. Likewise these kids are probably getting boosters earlier than you and me for the same reason. The schedule that I had is what I plan on using should I have any children.

3: Children are exposed to people from "foreign" parts before they should be. When I was born, 90% of my family was local and saw me if they wanted to. I had one uncle who was in the military and stationed over seas and did not see until I was a few years old. These days children are exposed to extended family from all over the country and exposed to diseases that were once regional outbreaks. This goes back to point 2 somewhat in that exposure to diseases earlier is an issue that Physicians tend to take into account when administering vaccines. This is assuming that there is no health outbreak in your area or where the kids Grandparents just flew from. You hear a few news stories of Whooping cough, or Measles outbreaks popping up a lot more than before, usually from illegal/refugee immigrant communities, as legal residents are required to have all shots up to date by approved State Department physicians before entering the country. Pediatricians doing their due diligence would need to administer these vaccines earlier than prescribed let alone recommended in a situation like that.

4: They are probably not getting the same vaccines as you did. Your parents got live vaccines and if you are over 35 you may have gotten a few depending on where you lived. SCHIP and universal vaccination came in place after my time to get immunizations so I tend to think that even the dead vaccines that I got had better quality preservatives than what is being administered today. These days most vaccines are mass produced to make it worth their while(see my first point) which means large dead batches of vaccines and preserved for an extended time using the cheapest preservatives that they can get by the FDA. I have no idea if the preservatives used today are too much for a baby that is under one year old, but it is something that I would want to control the intake on any of my kids as much as their sugar intake. I would choose a live virus on anything if I can help it as I think that a live virus does a better job for your immunity. However, since no one produces live virus vaccines any more, it is a moot point.

To conclude, I honestly don't think that any one vaccine will cause autism, nor do I think that a cumulative effect will. That is like saying the pie and Christmas Cookies that you have once a year will give you diabetes when you drank three cokes a day since you were six. The leading drivers of people with autism is still not clearly identified, however, I tend to believe that children born of women in their 30's and 40's is more likely to be the three cokes a day that is driving Autism. But if you have both factors then I can believe that you are running that higher risk that makes the remotely possible not as remote as it once was.

A word to Jenny McCarthy, If she wants to stop bitching and actually do something about this and give her self and nervous parents some piece of mind, I recommend that she can spend her stripper money starting a anti-viral company that produces live vaccines only, like the ones that she had as a child of the 70's. Good luck with the FDA sweetheart, as it takes the FDA forever to shit let alone do anything important. She could also recommend having children in your twenties rather than be on the pages of Playboy.