A COVID Cough?

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.   And among those diseases could be COVID-19.

Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) apparently believes in the discredited notion.

This is @RepGrothman *today* at the Wisconsin Republican convention (which was held in-person) pic.twitter.com/MnsVlJryLE

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2020

In 2017, Jeff Spitzer-Resnick blogged about a visit to Grothman's office::

Sure enough, almost immediately, Rep. Grothman walked into his office where we were already sitting down with his legislative assistant, and recognized me and said:

I have to ask you a question. Do you believe that vaccines cause autism?

While I could not have predicted exactly what outrageous question Rep. Grothman would ask me, I had anticipated that he would ask an outrageous question. I could have demurred and said that this was not what we had come to talk to him about as it was not one of our issues, but my past experience with Rep. Grothman was that he would not give up until he got an answer to his question. So, I replied by saying:

No, I do not believe they cause autism.

Of course that did not satisfy Rep. Grothman, so he persisted by asking:

How do you KNOW they don’t?

So, I replied:

You asked me if I believe they cause autism. I do not BELIEVE they cause autism because science has not demonstrated that they do.

I then proceeded to put him in his place by telling him the story of my brother who died from a pertussis vaccine in 1966. We know this because science proved it and Congress passed a vaccine compensation program for such medical mistakes. I further informed him that fortunately our son was born after scientists developed a dead virus vaccine which is safe so we could give it to him. I closed with informing him that people who do not give their children vaccines are bringing back diseases into our community and they are a public health menace.

By the time I finished, Rep. Grothman recognized that he was not going to win this argument and our meeting was able to continue in the manner that we desired by discussing the issues that we came to talk about. The lesson, of course, is that well prepared advocates will not get thrown off by those in power who choose to pursue an irrelevant agenda. By speaking truth to power, I was able to provide both personal and fact based information to Rep. Grothman and steer the meeting back to what we came to talk about.

A Success Story

There is no cure for autism, but intervention can make a difference. One story from Wisconsin, about Christopher Xu, son of Yingchun Xu and Sophia Sun:

The couple were living with their older daughters, Iris and Laura, in a Chicago suburb when Christopher was born. Both girls were interactive, affectionate babies, but Christopher paid little attention to his mother, his family or his surroundings. As a toddler he spent most of his time lining up his favorite toys in order or spinning himself in circles — over and over again. When the Xu family went to an air show, his mother pointed to the planes roaring overhead, saying, “Christopher, look at that! Look up!” but the little boy just spun around and around, oblivious to the noise or the world surrounding him.

Now Christopher is 11, and he will soon graduate from the fifth grade at Madison’s John Muir Elementary to head off to middle school. Thanks to the love and persistence of his family, powerful early training, insightful teachers and accepting classmates, his story has changed dramatically, and his remarkable abilities are increasingly apparent.

He is among Wisconsin’s most gifted math students, recently earning top state honors among 1,477 students in the American Mathematics Competition for grades 8 and under. In another math competition, he placed third against high school students. He is his school’s chess champion, and his recreational reading includes such books as “Freakanomics” and “The Mathematical Universe.” He is an excellent musician with perfect pitch who’s composing his own work with the help of a UW music school doctoral candidate. And he’s a top city speller.

Limits of the Wisconsin Mandate

One Wisconsin family found that the new autism-coverage mandate is not as extensive as it thought.  WISC-TV reports:

The law applies only to state-regulated insurance companies. Their employer-based one, AETNA, is federally regulated and when the Tarnutzers tried to buy state-based insurance, numerous companies denied them, citing Alex's pre-existing condition. They are among many families who are still falling through the cracks, WISC-TV reported. "Everyone in governmental power needs to start taking a look at how they can fill that crack. Because these kids need help and they need help now," she said. State Rep. Scott Newcomer, R-Pewaukee, voted against the mandate. He said he wanted the state to fully fund its current Medicaid autism program that serves such families. There's still a waiting list for that program. "You're talking at least half the people, if not up to 70 percent of the people, will not have coverage under this program and I mean that's just crazy!" he said. "We need to fund all of these families. The insurance mandate -- all it did was fund a few of the families and increase the cost."

New State Laws on Insurance Coverage

New state laws on insurance coverage of autism take effect today in Connecticut and Wisconsin.

For an interactive map of state initiatives, click here.