Why do some people think that the CDC is ignoring a report of declining autism rates in one California County?
The usual suspects…
Why Did Autism Rates Decline in This California County?
Like they often do, anti-vaccine influencers are misstating the results of a study to make you think that vaccines are associated with autism.
Actually, in this case, Toby Rogers is simply making things up, as the study never mentions vaccines.
In fact, the study provides a very good explanation for the decline in autism rates in the county, an explanation that Toby Rogers ignores.
“Overall, the results suggest that the most wealthy and educated parents, starting around birth year 2000, began either to opt out of DDS in favor of private services and/or to make choices and access options that lowered their children’s likelihood of being diagnosed with the severe forms of ASD historically served by DDS.”
California Autism Prevalence by County and Race/Ethnicity: Declining Trends Among Wealthy Whites
DDS, if you are unfamiliar with the acronym, is the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS).
“An alternative explanation for the results in Figs. 2, 3, and
California Autism Prevalence by County and Race/Ethnicity: Declining Trends Among Wealthy Whites
4 is that wealthy white and Asian parents are simply opting
out of DDS in favor of privately funded services… It is therefore likely that wealthier families today obtain behavioral health treatment through private insurance, while lower income families rely on DDS.”
Wait, why does this matter?
“County-level ASD prevalence was estimated using an age-resolved snapshot from the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) for birth years 1993–2013”
California Autism Prevalence by County and Race/Ethnicity: Declining Trends Among Wealthy Whites
The study that Toby Rogers is misusing and which is being laundered through anti-vaccine sites uses DDS data!
So if those autistic kids from wealthier families weren’t using DDS services, then they weren’t going to be counted and the counts in their counties would be artificially lowered.
Autism is Still Not Associated With Vaccines
So it isn’t that these kids received fewer vaccines!
But if it were that they had received fewer vaccines, you would need evidence that these kids in Santa Clara, Sonoma, Marin, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Mateo and San Francisco counties had a drop in vaccination rates beginning in about 1992 to 1996.
After all, the drop in autism rates begin in 2000…
And this was a time when we actually saw rising immunization rates in these counties!
Remember, we didn’t start seeing the effects of Wakefield’s fraud until after 2000…
Oh, and during this time, these kids were getting a few more vaccines…
All in all, it’s a nice reminder that vaccines aren’t associated with autism, don’t you think?
More on Autism Rates
- When Stephanie Seneff Predicted That Half of Kids Would Be Autistic
- What Robert F. Kennedy, Jr Gets Wrong About Vaccines and Autism
- If It’s Vaccines, Then Why Are There Autistic Kids Who Are Unvaccinated?
- Competing Anti-Vaccine Autism Theories
- Explaining the Correlation of Autism After Vaccines
- Vaccines and Autism Redux
- How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Hurts Autistic Families
- California Autism Prevalence by County and Race/Ethnicity: Declining Trends Among Wealthy Whites
- Status Report on the Childhood Immunization Initiative: National, State, and Urban Area Vaccination Coverage Levels Among Children Aged 19–35 Months — United States, 1996
- National, State, and Urban Area Vaccination Coverage Levels Among Children Aged 19–35 Months — United States, 1999
- National, State, and Urban Area Vaccination Coverage Among Children Aged 19–35 Months — United States, 2004
- Viral image perpetuates misconception that vaccines cause autism
- Posts falsely link CDC vaccine schedule to rising autism rates
- Has Autism Prevalence Increased?
- Autism prevalence is up but scientists have consistently found that vaccines don’t cause it
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