So we know that vaccines don’t cause acute flaccid myelitis.
Consider a five-year-old in Maryland who recently came down with symptoms of AFM.
Was he recently vaccinated?
Nope. It had been some time since his four-year-old vaccines. Almost a year. And he had not gotten a flu vaccine yet.
What he did have were worsening symptoms about two weeks after he had seemed to get over a cold, something he has in common with most other kids with AFM.
“To try to pin a tragic yet uncommon neurological condition caused by enteroviruses on vaccines is dangerous and puts more kids at risk.”
Scott Krugman, MD
As with this case, the CDC reports no correlation with vaccines in the cases that they have investigated.
And remember, some of these kids have been unvaccinated!
That makes you wonder why some folks actually think that vaccines are associated with AFM, doesn’t it?
Why Do Some People Think That Vaccines Cause AFM?
That’s right, as you are likely suspecting, the usual suspects are pushing anti-vaccine propaganda and promoting the idea to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.
“…there are many other reasons to suspect vaccine-related mechanisms of causation for AFM in the U.S., a primary one being that the scientific literature has documented paralysis as an adverse reaction to vaccination for decades!”
The Non-Polio Illness That “Looks Just Like Polio” by Lyn Redwood, RN, MSN, President, Children’s Health Defense
If any of these kids had recently gotten the oral polio vaccine, then sure, an adverse reaction to the vaccination would be at the top of the list of possible causes. After all, we know that VAPP can occur after OPV, but that vaccine hasn’t been used in the United States since 2000, when we switched to IPV.
Why do these folks think that they have it all figured out?
The AFM outbreaks happen at the beginning of the school year, when kids are all getting their shots, right?
Nope. They happen during the summer and early fall, peaking in August. And despite what some folks think, most parents don’t wait until the end of summer, just before school starts, to vaccinate their kids. Plus, most kids don’t even need vaccines before the start of the school year. Kids typically only get vaccines before starting kindergarten and middle school.
But the outbreaks do coincide with the when kids get their flu shots, right?
How many kids get flu shots in June and July?
If it was flu shots, the peak would be in October and November, when most kids get their flu shots and we would continue to see cases through December and January.
Of course, there is absolutely no evidence that flu vaccines, or any other vaccines, cause AFM.
What about the journal article that Brandy Vaughan posts as evidence?
“By reviewing vaccine-associated inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system, this study describes the current knowledge on whether the safety signal was coincidental, as in the case of multiple sclerosis with several vaccines, or truly reflected a causal link, as in narcolepsy with cataplexy following pandemic H1N1 influenza virus vaccination.”
Vaccine-associated inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system: from signals to causation
Even if you just read the abstract, as many folks do, you get a good idea where they are going with the article. It talks about how the claims of an association between multiple sclerosis and vaccines were proven to be purely coincidental.
Remember, correlation does not imply causation.
With AFM, you don’t even have much correlation to imply causation though!
Most cases occur just before we start giving flu vaccines and they don’t occur every year or in every state.
But doesn’t the article mention myelitis?
“Most of the published associations are based on individual case reports or small series of patients.”
Vaccine-associated inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system: from signals to causation
It does mention myelitis, just like it mentions MS – where an association has been shown to be purely coincidental.
Remember, case reports are not good evidence.
“…there are many other reasons to suspect vaccine-related mechanisms of causation for AFM in the U.S., a primary one being that the scientific literature has documented paralysis as an adverse reaction to vaccination for decades!”
The Non-Polio Illness That “Looks Just Like Polio” by Lyn Redwood, RN, MSN, President, Children’s Health Defense
But isn’t acute flaccid myelitis listed as a possible side affect in the package inserts for our vaccines?
While it should be clear that AFM isn’t the same as ADEM and TM, it is very important to understand that even when those other conditions are listed in a package insert, it is in the section that is marked “without regard to causality.”
This isn’t evidence that vaccines cause AFM!
But didn’t the BMJ publish a study about Vaccines and the U.S. Mystery of Acute Flaccid Myelitis?
Nope. What they did is let someone publish what is essentially an online letter to the editor. And anti-vaccine folks are spreading it around like it is an actual BMJ study…
Surprised?
You shouldn’t be.
This is how anti-vaccine propaganda works.
It’s no coincidence that anti-vaccine folks are trying so hard to associate the outbreaks of AFM with vaccines. What better way to scare folks and make them think that vaccines are dangerous?
How are ‘we’ working on a vaccine for AFM if we don’t even know what causes AFM???
But that’s how many anti-vaccine folks think. Everything is a vaccine injury. Everything is a conspiracy.
Don’t believe them. Vaccines are safe and necessary.
More on Anti-Vaccine Propaganda About AFM
- Acute flaccid myelitis
- Why health care providers & public health professionals say vaccines are not the cause of recent acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) cases
- Polio-like syndrome – blame enterovirus 68 not vaccines
- AAP – Acute Flaccid Myelitis in Children
- Study – Enterovirus D68 and acute flaccid myelitis-evaluating the evidence for causality.
- CDC – About Acute Flaccid Myelitis
- CDC – AFM Investigation
- Recent Spike in Cases of Acute Flaccid Myelitis
- CAPTURE: Collaborative Assessment of Pediatric Transverse Myelitis; Understand, Reveal, Educate
- A.F.M.- Acute Flaccid Myelitis Awareness & Other Polio-Like Virus Side Effect
- Parents of Children with Polio Like Syndrome / Acute Flaccid Myelitis
- Maryland parents warn others to be aware of AFM symptoms
- Study – Vaccine-associated inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system: from signals to causation
Last Updated on October 21, 2018