Day 141: Immunizations Cause Autism?

If you read the paper or watch the news, you realize there is an ongoing debate over vaccines and whether they cause autism. Here is my simple view on vaccines:

1) Vaccines have saved millions of lives and essentially eradicated many devastating illnesses.
2) There is no evidence that MMR or any other vaccine causes autism (If you disagree prove it too me...and no, Hollywood celebrities opinions don't count as scientific evidence).
3) As a physician I encourage all of my patients to receive any and all age appropriate immunizations. This includes all currently recommended doses for kids.

Now don't get me wrong. I understand parents concerns and do not fault any mother or father who withholds a dose of vaccine because they are legitimately concerned that it may cause adverse effects to their child. A parent should never be made to feel guilty about doing what they think is best for their children. However, if you want my opinion, I say give your kids their shots--they'll thank you for it some day.

Anyway, one great thing that we have developed here, is an immunization program for the Afghan Police. We give shots to new recruits and also to the existing police force. Hopefully, down the road we can extend the service to family members...especially children. It is a shame that anyone, especially a child, would suffer unnecessarily or die because they don't have access to a necessary vaccine.

Below are posted some pictures of a 2 day processing event we held at a training facility in Herat. We had a good time and were able to give a lot of shots.

What do you think, does this guy look happy to be here?

At lunch I went and ate at the Afghan dining facility--kind of scary but so far no sign of any serious gastrointestinal consequences.