Bangura 1

Paul Bangura
Mrs. Douglas
English 112
10/24/2019
A Round Table Essay

Over the last two decades, controversial reports, research and debates have been going on
to know whether there is any link between childhood vaccination and the subsequent
development of autism. As a result of the controversy surrounding support link between
childhood vaccination and the development of autism, a round table was set up which include
three voices to know various viewpoints in relation to vaccination and autism.
To start with, vaccination protest children from specific diseases such as measles, mumps
and rubella diseases. Autism on the other hand is a neural developmental disorder which inhibit
the normal growth and development of a child within a social environment. Some of the signs
and symptoms of an autistic children are, development of speech, reciprocating a gesture like
smile, and responding to his or her name.
According to Folb, the strongest evidence that supported the motion that there is no link
between vaccination and autism is the Global Perspective on Vaccination Safety and Public
Health. In the late 1990s, concern about a possible link between vaccination and autism were
raised after a publication of series of studies claim an association between vaccination and
autism. As a result of this, The Global Advisory Committee on Vaccination safety was
established in 1999 to advice the World Health organization (WHO) on vaccine-related safety
and enable (WHO) to respond promptly, efficiently, and with scientific rigor to the issue of
vaccines safety with potential global importance.
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Based on The Global Advisory Committee on vaccine safety in collaboration with the
World Health Organization, scientific studies could not find any link between vaccination and
autism. Therefore, the committee advised the World Health Organization to carry out their
activities in order to give vaccination to children. Today, immunization is carried out so as to
eradicate the dreaded diseases that has affected many children in the globe.
In the article, winning the Vaccination War in California, research shows that people have
negative feeling towards vaccination; or though the government is in favor of it. In California
and many other states in the US, there has been an increase in the number of families that obtain
personal belief claiming that vaccination has caused autism, and therefore withheld their children
from taking vaccination. In California the state senator Richard Pan and Ben Allen drafted a bill
that eliminates the personal belief exemption that allowed unvaccinated children to attend
school. Both public and private schools fell within the scope of the bill.
The strongest opposition for this bill came from anti-government republicans who see
mandatory vaccination as government overreach leading to the police state. Since the SB 277
bill was placed on the legislative calendar in February 2015, there has been a religious and legal
objections. A single vote by Senator Hannah- Beth Jackson in favor of SB 277 elicited thousands
of Twitter comments.
The third voice of the round table essay is a popular based study of measles mumps, and
rubella vaccination and autism which shows that people have negative feeling about vaccination,
even though scientists have not proven any link between vaccinations and autism. In Denmark,
retrospective cohort study was made on all children that was born from January 1999 through
December 1998. According to Madsen and Kreesten, the data was selected from the Danish Civil
Registration System which shows the number of every live-born infant and new resident in
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Denmark. Based on data selected, out of 537,303 in the cohort study, 440 had received the MMR
vaccines. After the vaccination was given out to the children, it was realized that 316 children
had a diagnosis of autism disorder and 422 with a diagnoses of another autism spectrum disorder.
Having analyzed the data by scientists, it was realized that the above data did not show any
association between the age at the time of vaccination, the time since vaccination, and the
development of autism. However parents of children that have been affected by autism as a result
of vaccination could not believe in the above scientific data analysis in connection with
vaccination and autism.
In conclusion, the round table essay is trying to establish evidence as ordinary people and
parents of children with autism are still in dough and curious to know whether scientific data and
analysis with regards to vaccination and autism is accurate. For this reason three voices have
been heard which includes, Global Perspective on Vaccination Safety and Public Health,
Winning the Vaccination War in California, and a Popular Based study measles mumps and
rubella vaccines to establish evidence in a form of a round table essay.

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Works Cited
Barglow, Raymond, and Margret Schaefer. "Winning the Vaccination War in California." Skeptic
2016: 32, 39, 64. ProQuest. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
Folb, Peter I., et al. "A Global Perspective on Vaccine Safety and Public Health: The Global
Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety." American Journal of Public Health 94.11
(2004): 1926-31. ProQuest. Web. 4 Oct. 2016.
Madsen, Kreesten Meldgaard, M.D., et al. "A Population-Based Study of Measles, Mumps, and
Rubella Vaccination and Autism." The New England journal of medicine 347.19 (2002):
1477-82. ProQuest. Web. 29 Sep. 2016.