Should children with Autism get the flu shot?

Question

I tried looking it up online but i keep getting both yes/no. Does any one know? please give and support your answer .

tamster_09 Yes, i know they get the FLU but some people think that shots is the cause of Autism . some im wondering about the flu shot

Answer 1

My son is autistic and I personally feel that the flu shot would do him more harm than good. Previous posters have stated that there are no issues with shots and autism is an epidemic. The fact is that no one knows what causes autism. You can talk to ten different parents with autistic children and you will get ten different theories on why their child is affected. For my son he was developing perfectly and hitting all his milestones until 15 months old. He was walking, talking, making eye contact, and behaving “normally”. 10 days after receiving his MMR vaccine he broke out in a rash that even his doctor admitted looked like a measles rash. He ran a high fever for days, stopped eating, and slept more than he was awake. As he was getting over this “virus” he stopped talking and would not look at you even if you held his face in front of yours. Is it a coincidence that he was diagnosed autistic after receiving his MMR? Possibly. Could the MMR have caused his autism? Possibly.

Another poster (rather scaringly, a 4th year medical student) stated that there is no longer any thimerosal (a preservative that contains approximately 49% ethyl mercury) in vaccines. This is completely untrue. Taken directly from the CDC site…
Does the influenza vaccine contain thimerosal?
Yes, the majority of influenza vaccines distributed in the United States currently contain thimerosal as a preservative.

As for the poster that states no credible link has shown that vaccines contribute to autism…show me a credible link that shows me that they don’t. If you read all these credible studies, which I’m assuming you have done since you can quote the findings; you would know that the majority are funded by the pharmaceutical companies themselves. Hmmm, if I had a product that was making me trillions of dollars how hard am I going to try to find fault with it?

I would hope than any parent of an autistic child would do further research on the subject beyond just posing a question on Yahoo. While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, only a parent can decide what is best for their child.

Answer 2

My son has autism, and I would not give him a flu shot. The controversy over thimerosal is still being investigated. Most of the vaccines have had the thimerosal removed, some still have trace amounts, but the flu vaccine still has the full 25 mcg of mercury that was in the old shots. Mercury is a neurotoxin and in my opinion should never be injected into anyone, especially children. There is a live attenuated flu vaccine (FluMist) without thimerosal, but many children with autism do have compromised immune systems so you may not want to use it. It also cannot be used for children under 5 years old.

The flu vaccines do not protect against all flu viruses, only three strains. They decide which strains will likely be most prevalent but they can't be 100% sure which ones will be going around, so getting one may not help much if it is a different strain. For me, the risks associated with the flu vaccine outweigh the benefit you may or may not get.

Answer 3

talk to your doctor before you panic or skip the recommended second dose. there's a lot of misinformation on y!, and your doctor can give you statistics on pros and cons considering your child's specific health history and what type of shot your child got. some flu shots do not contain mercury at all. further there is no definitive evidence linking any vaccinations (including flu shot) with autism, though there is some chance some vaccinations may make autism more likely in susceptible kids. of course you need to balance that small risk against the risk that your child could get very severely ill from the flu. Not everyone needs a flu shot, but for some kids it's important. 8-month-olds are generally considered to be in a "high risk" category since if they did get the flu they could get very sick indeed. please talk to your doctor about your concerns before making any major decisions.

Answer 4

Immunizations are absolutely NOT the cause of autism. Even when that was being investigated, they were looking at an additive in the vaccines called thimoserol, not the immunization itself. And as a previous poster pointed out, we no longer use that additive anyway.

Autistic people do not have suppressed immune systems, or if they do, that is a separate problem. If the autistic person is at an age to be at risk for flu, then they should get the flu shot. The main reason not to get the flu shot is an allergy to eggs (the vaccine is grown in eggs). For those people, there does exist a nasal version of the vaccine (inhaled). It doesn't protect quite as well, but it doesn't carry the egg-allergy risk.

Answer 5

I can't believe a fourth year medical student doesn't know that flu shots still have mercury in them. To the ignorant people that believe that vaccinations are safe, THERE IS A VACCINATION INJURY FUND. THE MANUFACTURERS OF VACCINES WOULD NOT MAKE THEM OTHERWISE!!

Children with autism should not get the flu shot because it is not effective at preventing the flu and it stills has mercury in it.
I have personally know 2 people who got the flu shots and got the flu anyway.
The immune system of ASD kids is not functionally normally. My 5 year old son has mercury toxicity confirmed by medical testing. He is fully vaccinated but I will not give him anymore. His immune system has been activated and he is making lots of antibodies against food. His DAN doctor is helping me detox him and this should lower the inflammatory response.
The flu shot is not medically neccessary and contains more harmful toxins than getting the flu wiould. Why inject yourself with stuff like formaldeyde and aluminum when we live in a polluted world. I would rather my child have the flu. Only a small percentage of people die from the flu. These unfortunate victims have compromised immune systems-- like HIV, organ transplant patients, etc.

Answer 6

Really I think it is your own decision whether to get your childs flu shot or any other shot! Now as far as the shot controversy, I have researched alot this past year about vaccines and how safe they are! I guess my thing is do your home work, know the facts about all the shots and the risks! Do any of you know what is in the vaccines???? Look it up, I challege you! Get the insert from the doctors office that tells about what is in them. It is alot of big words so look those names up and see what they are! Such as 2- Phenoxyethanol. Check out what this is at http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=chem&id=1019
I know it's in Detergents, makeup and Hair dye. Some of the Human toxicity Excerpts include: Central Nervous Depression, nausea Vomiting, Acute Renal Failure to name a few!

Answer 7

As a mother of a child with autism, my son does not get the flu shot because it contains thimerasol. He has received vaccines in the past (I was told by drs. that vaccines were safe now... no mercury). I saw a significant decrease in his speech after the shots so no more vaccines for my son.

I do believe there is a connection with vaccines and autism for some children.

Answer 8

I asked my dr. about the controversy going on with child immunizations and mercury and autism back in December, he said those were safe(r) now, they don't use that mercury type chemical(thimersol?) in those anymore. He said he was more concerned about all the adults that get flu shots. I think the flu shots contain that thimersol or whatever it's called. He's an older dr., very upfront and honest. Actually seemed surprised when I asked him about that-just to give you a background on him. I've had a flu shot once in the military-had to get it, never had my kid's get one, and don't intend to for any of us in the future. Just my 2 cents....

Answer 9

My grandson is 17 and autistic, and his father has cancer of the mouth, throat, nasal passages, and lungs; his prognosis is extremely poor. Nevertheless, his oncologist has decided on a rigorous course of chemo and radiation treatments. However, prior to beginning this course of treatment, all family members were required to receive flu vaccinations. Good idea? My daughter and granddaughter were sore at the injection sites for a few days, but otherwise ok. My grandson? He turned into a monster! My daughter is now afraid that my grandson will harm either his sister or his father; I am searching (fruitlessly, so far) for a solution to get him out of their house and into mine. But I live several hours travel away from them, and I have a very limited income and no car. What to do?

Answer 10

No! Those with Autism have supressed imune systems and immunizations (even routine) can cause serious setbacks. There is emerging research showing that many other physical and developmental symptoms of Autism are truly imune related issues. Unfortunately, more studies are done in England and Europe than in the US.

If you remember the Immunization scares and mercury/Thimersol being thought to cause autism, and then disproven, there's more to it than just that: the imunization itself doesn't cause autism, but many autistic insividuals have family who are schitzophrenic/bi-polar, and the genes just happen to combine in a way that the child's imune system is not functioning normally. It isn't the innoculation itself, but the imune system's response to it.

If you or a loved one has a family member with autism, you can refer to their doctor for specific information. I have two cousins who are autistic, their doctor determined that it is genetic and gave me some guidelines to follow for when I had my two sons - including delayed immunization schedules and completely leaving out some immuniztions that are considered routine - such as varicella and influenza - as it could over-load their system are the risks outweigh the benefits.