Do Many Parents Blame Vaccines for Their Child’s Autism?

Why do some people think that many parents still blame vaccines for causing their child’s autism?

The usual suspects…

Do Many Parents Blame Vaccines for Their Child’s Autism?

In searching for someone to blame, have we really just gone from blaming parenting (refrigerator mom theory) to blaming parents for vaccinating and protecting their kids for their child’s autism?

That may have been true for a time, as many parents were Wakefielded into thinking that the MMR vaccine caused autism, but most parents hopefully now understand that vaccines are not associated with autism.

Remember, the idea that vaccines are associated with autism began with Wakefield’s fraudulent study!

Before that, few people thought that vaccines were associated with autism.

What about the idea that 40 to 70% of parents blame vaccines for their children’s autism?

Let’s take a look…

It’s easy to see where Aaron Siri got his 40% number. It was a 2006 survey in which “most parents (37/41, 90.2%) believed genetics contributed to ASD in their child.”

“A descriptive survey was designed to investigate parental views on the cause(s) of ASD in their child. Among the 41 parents who replied to the questionnaire, genetic influences (90.2%), perinatal factors (68.3%), diet (51.2%), prenatal factors (43.9%) and vaccines (40.0%) were considered to be the most significant contributory factors.”

Parental perspectives on the causes of an autism spectrum disorder in their children

I couldn’t find studies with higher percentages, but not surprisingly, Siri doesn’t mention all of the studies that show even lower rates of parents blaming vaccines!

In one of the more recent studies, from 2020, Beliefs about causes of autism and vaccine hesitancy among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder, nearly 80% of parents did not think that toxins found in vaccines were a factor in causing their child’s autism. The great majority of parents in the study, even those who were vaccine hesitant, thought that genetics and/or their child’s brain structure was the cause of autism.

And in another large 2020 study, Beliefs in vaccine as causes of autism among SPARK cohort caregivers, researchers found that “16.5% of caregivers endorsed immunizations as perceived causes of autism.”

So while Aaron Siri pushes the idea that 40 to 70% of parents blame vaccines for their child’s autism, we have very good evidence that over 83% now do not!

“In our sample, beliefs in vaccines as a cause for ASD was not associated with a lessened endorsement of genetic factors as causal, as well; rather, it was paralleled with more frequent endorsement of multiple, additional, putative environmental causes.”

Beliefs in vaccine as causes of autism among SPARK cohort caregivers

What else does Aaron Siri leave out?

When parents do actually believe it was vaccines, that isn’t the only factor that they believed cause their child to become autistic. They also believe in genetics and environmental factors, etc. So they think that it is vaccines and other things. And not surprisingly, it is the parents of children with regressive autism that are most likely to believe that vaccines were a factor.

So what’s the takeaway here?

Aaron Siri is misinforming folks by omission. He is cherry picking facts. And what may be most troubling, he did during testimony as an expert witness before a Committee of the New Hampshire House of Representatives!

Parents have learned about the harms caused by these kinds of anti-vaccine influencers and they aren’t listening to them anymore.

It’s time everyone else stops listening to them too.

More on Causes of Autism

• Anti-Vaccine Propaganda About What Causes Autism
• What Robert F. Kennedy, Jr Gets Wrong About Vaccines and Autism
• Del Bigtree vs Stanley Plotkin
• About those Stanley Plotkin Videos…
• A Guide to Evaluating Vaccine Information for Legislators
• A Legislative Guide to Advocating for Stronger Vaccine Laws
• Lay conceptions of autism: Parents’ explanatory models
• Parental beliefs about autism: implications for the treating physician
• Parental perspectives on the causes of an autism spectrum disorder in their children
• Beliefs about causes of autism and vaccine hesitancy among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder
• Beliefs in vaccine as causes of autism among SPARK cohort caregivers
• False Claim About Cause of Autism Highlighted on Pennsylvania Senate Panel
• No, courts have not ‘quietly confirmed’ MMR vaccine causes autism
• Glyphosate and COVID-19: Dr. Stephanie Seneff Strikes (Out) Again
• What causes autism? Real science clearly shows it is not vaccines
• Vaccines Still Don’t Cause Autism

Last Updated on September 11, 2024