Through the past years, parental refusal of child vaccinations has steadily increased throughout the United States in pediatrics and public health. Although vaccines have been considered to be one of the greatest public health achievements, it has recently taken a fall due to rising concern with the connection to autism.1 Autism, also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder is a complicated condition in which there is a deficiency in social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, obsessive behavior, and repetitive movements that is associated with genetic and environmental factors. The controversy stems from the environmental causes where there is little information and because of that, many have made acquisitions without sustained proof. The rising fear that vaccines is a cause of autism is a result of many myths abound but have yet to be officially proven: Measles-Mumps -Rubella (MMR) vaccine, thimerosal, and the number of times the vaccine is given to patient. 2Many of us received vaccinations as children or infant
s, and firmly believed they were provided as a form of protection from major diseases and needed to be repeated to maintain proper immunity with aging. This perception of vaccines could be justified with the eradication of small pox, measles and polio which were deadly infectious diseases that once swept through the United States. 3Due to increase numbers in child exemption of the vaccines required for school, jobs and leaving the country, pediatric providers find a struggle to respond to such claim due to connection with autism. This claim originally started in 1988 with British researchers claiming that vaccines did cause autism, but after investigation, fell short due to no evidence supporting the hypothesis. Although this was a failure to prove the connection between the two, it caught the attention of the public and became controversial. Many claims that there is evidence sufficient enough to prove that vaccines cause autism, but until the discovery of how autism originates, then evidence is considered not sufficient.