Assistant Professor, David Esteban, Vassar College
In the April 2011 HV Parent, we ran a story about this hot topic, and received some thought-provoking responses. We at HV Parent agreed the subject needed revisiting. Here’s the entire response from David Esteban, assistant professor of Biology at Vassar College. He’s also a parent.
“I was concerned that the story heavily supported the link between autism and the MMR vaccine. It was misleading, and based its content on anecdotes, rather than data. The study by Wakefield that first proposed the link report was poorly designed, included too few participants, and [was] allegedly fraudulent.
(Click here for original story.)
Subsequent data from hundreds of thousands of kids all came to the same conclusion: there is no link between autism and the MMR vaccine. And, importantly, many people in the field, choose to vaccinate their kids. The risk of not vaccinating them against very dangerous diseases is greater.
Autism is a complex disease and having an explanation is very powerful for parents. I’m totally confident that vaccines protect kids and there is no long term harm; the benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks.”
Esteban adds that his 14 month old son recently received the MMR vaccine.
For more info, log on to chop.edu/service/vaccine-education-center/home.html
We thank Professor Esteban for contacting us with this truly helpful information for Hudson Valley parents.
Have something to “speak out” about? Write us: editor@exciting read.com.