No Link Between Autism and MMR

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

To be honest it is difficult to tell whether Dhuha had autism at birth or if she developed autism sometime within her first year of life. I lean towards her being autistic at birth but my own ignorance of the disorder didn’t allow me to see a problem until she was two years old. Looking back I can recognise clear autistic traits as far back as her ninth month and somewhat foggy memories of autistic traits when she was an infant.

One thing that troubled us was the MMR vaccine. Parents of autistic children have since the late 1990′s blamed it for their child’s condition. Zahira tells me that Dhuha actually received the MMR vaccine twice because for some reason the doctor’s office failed to record it the first time. Then just today we received a letter in the mail stating that it was time for Dhuha to get the MMR vaccine again, a third time! It is truly upsetting. When I read the letter I feel sick. My daughter doesn’t deserve that.

The BBC has reported that the British National Health Service has carried out some research that suggests that there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism because the percentage of adults with ASD is similar to Children with ASD despite the MMR vaccine only being used since the 1990′s. (Autism rates back MMR jab safety)

Even with the reports and even with my suspicion that Dhuha was autistic at birth, I still am struggling with what to do with Abdurrahman but I won’t likely be sending him for many vaccinations, no matter the guilt trips the doctors and nurses try to put on us.

To Allah we belong and to Him is our return.