Description
Science Literacy Assignment.
Research a topic of the choosing and write a term paper on it following the guidelines below
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Running page: VACCINES AND AUTISM
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Vaccines and Autism a Tale of Shifting Hypothesis
Author’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
VACCINES AND AUTISM
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Vaccines and autism a tale of shifting hypothesis
Despite rates of vaccinations in children remaining high, there are concerns by persistent
parents that autism might be caused by vaccinations. Three hypotheses have been produced; (1)
the immune system is overwhelmed by simultaneous administration of different vaccines. (2)
Thimerosal is harmful to the central nervous system and is sometimes used as a preservative in
vaccines. (3) The Rubella vaccine combination causes autism where it damages the lining of the
intestines. The following three theories will be discussed with a review of the significant
evidence. There has been a worldwide increase in autism diagnoses rate likely guided by
increased awareness where concerns have been fueled that exposure to vaccines might cause
autism. However there is no support to these claims by both biological and epidemiological
studies.
In a research article by Stanley Plotkin, Jeffrey Gerber and Paul Offit vaccines and
autism; A tale of Shifting Hypothesis, three related hypotheses were addressed. The lance is an
article which was published in 1999 by Andrew Wakefield about eight children who after being
administered with vaccines developed symptoms of autism. This was within a period of one
month. Wakefield postulated that from the observations the MMR vaccine was responsible for
inflammation in the intestines where non permeable peptides translocated to the bloodstream and
eventually to the brain leading to autism. Many people believed the misconcep...