Last week on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, Bill’s first guest was Jay Gordon, a pediatrician shrouded in controversy due to his views on vaccination. Maher isn’t afraid to feature guests who are controversial, antagonistic or outright charlatans – believing the studio lights act as sunlight, the best disinfectant.
But the segment was misguided, and arguably irresponsible.
Cogito, ergo sum
Gordon’s (and Maher’s) argument can be distilled to this:
- Therapeutic agents have adverse effects.
- Vaccines are therapeutic agents, therefore
- Vaccines have adverse effects and
- One such effect could be autism, so
- Vaccines can cause autism.
That argument exemplifies the logical fallacy known as circular reasoning. Much like Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am,” it assumes the very conclusion it is trying to prove. It has the logical consistency of popcorn. Gordon assumes autism is a therapeutic side effect – which it isn’t. Then takes a leap of faith – another logical fallacy. His argument is junk.
Maher exacerbated matters by mistaking the absence of absolute knowledge with the absence of ANY reliable knowledge. Unwittingly, he promoted a conspiracy theory.
What is Autism?
Autism (or autism spectrum disorder) is a developmental condition involving difficulty with communication and behavior. While its cause remains unknown, studies have identified risk factors. Vaccination is not among them. In fact, 80% of the risk can be attributed to inherited genes.
Do Vaccines Cause Autism?
No.
Why Do People Think Vaccines Cause Autism?
The theory originated with a long-discredited paper published in 1998. That study suffered from poor methodology and conflicts of interest. It was the equivalent of a doctor noticing some patients with autism wearing blue shirts and concluding blue shirts cause autism. Its author eventually lost his medical license.
But the panic caused by the publication has never been ameliorated by extensive research. That panic has evolved into a conspiracy theory.
Too many resources continue to be wasted trying to disprove such nonsense. The evidence that vaccines do not cause autism was overwhelming even before the largest single study to date on the subject was published in March 2019.
That comprehensively designed study concluded that vaccination neither increases the risk for autism, triggers it in “susceptible” children, nor is it associated with increased incidence of diagnoses following vaccination.
The Bottom Line
Modern medicine might still not have all the answers we seek, but it has one for the question of whether or not vaccines cause autism.
They don’t.
(Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash)