Expert: Trey McGowan - 6/2/2008

Question
I have a 5 year old who needs to get her second dose of MMR vaccine and I am a bit nervous. Have you heard any stories about children at this age regressing after the MMR vaccine? Also, my 13 month old is almost due for her MMR vaccine. What are your recommendations for a mother who is nervous about regressive autism? I am a stay at home mom and we will not be putting her into daycare any time soon. Do you suggest we wait or get her vaccinated?

Answer
Hi there, Jamie!

The problem with the whole 'MMR vaccine' worry is that there are yet to be tests done. The fact that children regressed after having a vaccine given is proof of one thing: that children can regress. It is possible that regression could have happened after watching a specific TV show, eaten a specific food, fell down and bumped their heads, got a scare, wore red on a Saturday in the middle of May.... well, you get the picture. It is easy to make a link if one is being looked for. One parent rose the alarm, and now a number of them are saying their children had regression symptoms after the MMR vaccine. However, if a parent had raised the alarm after their child was eating Jolly Green Frozen Peas, that would have been the trigger that parents jumped on. While I am not saying it's 100% impossible, the fact remains: the only time people started raising the alarm was after one parent spoke up and others were more than happy to follow the source of blame.

Until further testing is done, which could take a good many years, there is no real proof of the MMR vaccine causing regression. Indeed, no one (as far as I know) has come up with any reason it *should* cause this regression of symptoms other than 'Just because'. The MMR has been proven to cause light physical symptoms (as are many injections, as the body tries to fight a 'foregn invader') but there is nothing in the MMR that should be causing the pervasive neurological symptoms that autism displays.

I wish I could say 'there is no chance of regression'. However, if your child is displaying autistic signs (and even if they are not), then regression can happen at many ages, vaccine or no. However, spending time worrying about the possibility is as counterproductive as worrying about sharks when going to a beach trip, or going for a walk in the woods and being worried by being jumped by a rabid puma. I.E. just because the possibility is there doesn't mean that you should *worry* about it, so much as be aware of it.

In the end, more studies have been done on the pain and difficulty measles, mumps, and rubella puts children through than on the possibility that MMR may cause regressive autism. It is ultimately your decision on whether to get the children vaccinated or not, but while you are aware of the news reports of regressive autism, take a little time to become aware of *those* as well. Then you can make an educated decision as to which is the chance that you are more willing to take.

Hopefully my answer helped out at least a little bit! If you have any questions, comments, et cetera, don't hesitate to get back to me; I'll do what I can!

Trey