Fighting Vaccine Hesitancy

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.

From the Sabin Vaccine Institute:

The end of the COVID-19 pandemic will depend on our ability to address vaccine hesitancy, one of the top 10 threats to global health, before a vaccine is put on the market. Meeting the Challenge of Vaccination Hesitancy, a report published in June 2020 by the Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group, lays out actionable steps that leaders across healthcare, research, philanthropy and technology can take to build confidence in vaccines and vaccinations.

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Three ‘Big Ideas’ proposed in the report address the primary barriers to vaccine acceptance, provide a framework for progress, and sound a call to action. They are:

• A new media collaborative to serve as an interface between the vaccination community and social media platforms
• A research agenda to create ample evidence-based knowledge about the sources of vaccine hesitancy and the best ways to counter it
• A new narrative to shift the conversation around immunization to one that focuses on achievements and promise and helps build resiliency in the vaccine enterprise

This report from the 2019 meeting of the Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group highlights that although vaccination remains a well-accepted social norm worldwide, a combination of factors—including the spread of misinformation on social media; decreased trust in institutions including government, science and industry; and weaknesses within health systems—has diminished confidence among some populations.

The report includes several commissioned papers.

 From "The Complex Contagion of Doubt in the Anti-Vaccine Movement," by Damon Centola.  Anti-vaxxers use the strategy of FUD:  fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

Foes of the vaccination enterprise generate fear by claiming that vaccines don’t work as well as they are portrayed, contain harmful ingredients, or trigger pathologic processes leading to long-term physical and mental health problems, such as asthma, diabetes, and autism spectrum disorders. Some even claim that vaccines have been intentionally laced with ingredients that cause cancer or infertility. Anti-vaccine communications inevitably include testimony from people whose children have diseases or conditions allegedly brought on by vaccination. Since these maladies infrequently occur during a child’s development, such assertions can trigger doubt about the safety of vaccines, leading to inaction or resistance.

Proponents of vaccination have generally been unable to resort to the same tactics when
describing the risks of vaccine-preventable illness because vaccinations’ very success has greatly diminished outbreaks of disease that would otherwise have provided fodder for powerful messages. Thus, the emotional battlefield is asymmetric—on the one hand, naive parents see serious infirmities that loud voices attribute to vaccines, while on the other, they hear gentle admonitions to continue a procedure whose benefits may be nearly invisible. Public health scientists have demonstrated little expertise in creating stories that generate emotion and engage popular attention, and vaccine foes have manipulated internet search engines to steer people toward false information—in the United States and Europe, as well as in Pakistan, the Philippines, Brazil, Egypt, India, and Nigeria (DiResta & Wardle, this volume).

From "Online Misinformation about Vaccines," by Renée DiResta and Claire Wardle

A popular platform for hosting anti-vaccine videos, YouTube offers a distribution mechanism of its own via a recommendation engine that suggests new videos to users. Many antivaccine organizers and influencers maintain their own YouTube channels. Following the release of Vaxxed, the movie’s production team traveled the country in a bus, recording “vaccine injury” anecdotes from parents. The videos, which were often live-streamed to other apps such as Periscope, were designed for maximum emotional resonance. Many include severely autistic, nonverbal children and feature a parent warning others not to make the same mistake they allegedly did.

Many other channels are conspiratorial in nature, purporting to expose the cover-up of a
link between vaccines and autism. In one 2018 study, academics analyzed 560 YouTube
videos “related to the link between vaccines and autism or other serious side effects on
children” (Donzelli et al., 2018). They found that most of the anti-vaccine videos (392 of the 560) focused on supporting this misinformation and that the number of anti-vaccine videos posted to YouTube was increasing every year

The Protecting Family Caregivers from Discrimination Act

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families.

A June 5 release from Senator Cory Booker

U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) today introduced legislation that expands protections for family caregivers from discrimination by their employers. The Protecting Family Caregivers from Discrimination Act would prohibit employers from firing, demoting, mistreating, refusing to hire, or taking other adverse employment action against workers who are caregivers for their loved ones. The bill would also prohibit employers from retaliating against a worker for seeking enforcement of these discrimination protections and it would establish a grant program to assist in preventing and combating such discrimination. Currently, many caregivers are ineligible for any form of protection under federal law and continue to face discrimination in the workplace due to their family caregiving responsibilities.

“The support and services family caregivers provide their loved ones are critical in maintaining their wellbeing,” Sen. Booker said. “Most family caregivers are employed and work to balance the responsibilities of their job while also providing that care. It is unacceptable that workers are being discriminated against simply because they have responsibilities outside of the workplace. Just about every working person has the potential to become a caregiver at some point in their life, and it is imperative that we create protections and provide the support needed to make sure that they can continue to care for their loved ones while they work.”

“This comprehensive and balanced bill will help employees with caregiving responsibilities do right by both their families and their employers—and will help employers tap the full talent pool,” Joan Williams, Founding Director of the Center for WorkLife Law said.
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“Many people with disabilities rely on family caregivers, something that has only increased as the pandemic has impacted the disability service system,” Bethany Lilly, Director of Income Policy, The Arc of the United States said. “Children with disabilities have lost services usually provided by schools and many adults with disabilities are suddenly without their usual routines and support professionals. COVID-19 has left all caregivers struggling to balance work and being there for their loved ones—it is incredibly important that caregivers be protected now and as we reopen.”

As of 2020, AARP found that 53 million Americans care for their sick loved ones and 61% of them work a full-time job. Also, according to a report done by WorkLife Law, between 2006 and 2016, family responsibilities discrimination cases increased 269 percent. It also found that six out of ten caregivers received a form of retribution by their employers once it was discovered that they were caregivers. Examples include employers cutting back their employee's work hours and/or giving out poor performance reviews.

Throughout his time in the Senate, Sen. Booker has worked on other legislation that supported family caregivers. In 2017, Booker worked with Rep. Pascrell to reintroduce the In-Home Caregiver Assessment Resources & Education (CARE) Act, which would provide the training and support caregivers need by establishing competitive grants to health care entities and community organizations to carry out family caregiver home visiting programs. These programs would allow providers to assess caregivers’ specific needs and help tailor training and resources to best serve the care recipient.

The legislation is endorsed by the Center for WorkLife Law, National Employment Law Project, the National Alliance for Caregiving, the Caregiver Action Network, Caring Across Generations, the National Women’s Law Center, A Better Balance, National Partnership for Women & Families, The Arc of the United States, and the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

Full text of the bill is available here.

Autism, Families, and Material Hardship

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families.

From the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute

An autism diagnosis can present a number of challenges for families from learning about the neurodevelopment disorder and accessing support services and resources to financial struggles. A new report from the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute at Drexel University highlighted the financial challenges facing households of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States. According to the report, households of children with ASD experience higher levels of poverty, material hardship and medical expenses than households of children with other special health care needs.

The report also found that over half of children with autism live in low-income households (household income below 200% of the federal poverty level, or FPL, with an income of $48,500 four a family of four) and 30% live in very low-income households (household income below 100% of the FPL, $24,250 for a family of four).

Families living in poverty have fewer resources to spare and are especially vulnerable in the face of burdens like care-related expenses, reduced earnings from taking time off work to cope with caregiving, and disconnection from services and supports.

“I have talked with countless families of children with autism over the past 20 years who are struggling with the dual challenge of parenting a child with special needs AND covering the basic needs of the entire family,” said Paul Shattuck, PhD, director of the Autism Institute’s Life Course Outcomes Program and co-author of the report. “Our hope for this Indicators Report is that it will raise awareness and spark discussion about the ways in which families are struggling and need our collective societal support.”

Safety net programs can help to offset financial challenges through the provision of monetary support and increased access to social services and programs. However, the current understanding of safety net program use among households of children with ASD is limited. And few population-level studies have described the characteristics of children with ASD from low-income households.

“We need exploratory and descriptive research that can chart the types of safety net programs low-income households of children with ASD report using, and how they compare to households of children without ASD,” said Kristy Anderson, associate researcher in the Autism Institute and lead author. “Such analyses could help to unveil specific conditions and characteristics that are unique to the subpopulation of children with ASD living in poverty.”

The report found households of children with ASD experienced material hardships (not being able to consume goods and services that are deemed minimally necessary) much more often than parents of children with other special health care needs and children with no special health care needs. Nearly half reported difficulty paying for basics like food or housing. Almost one-third had to reduce work to care for their child with autism. About one in five families had problems paying for their child’s health care and roughly 15% had difficulty affording food for the family.

Young children with ASD (ages 3-5 years) and those from minority groups faced an increased risk of material hardship. This was especially common for the subset of households living below 200% the federal poverty level, despite high levels of participation in safety net programs. More than two-thirds of low-income households of children with ASD reported that someone in their family received cash assistance; help from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); and/or free and reduced-price meals during the previous year.

Children with ASD who participated in at least one safety net program fared worse on three indicators of material hardship (difficulty paying bills, parents reduced/stopped work and inability to afford food) and had higher out-of-pocket expenditures than children who were disconnected from the safety net. Families of children who had public health insurance reported lower out-of-pocket expenditures and were less likely to report problems paying for their child’s medical care than children with private health insurance.

“Findings from this report indicate that younger children with ASD from minority backgrounds might be particularly vulnerable to the effects of poverty and hardship,” said Anderson. “Given what we know about the effects of poverty on the developing brain, and the importance of intervening early to improve outcomes for children with autism, there is a vital need for new resources and programs with targeted support for these families.”

The recently published “2020 National Autism Indicators Report: Children on the Autism Spectrum and Family Financial Hardship” uses data from the 2016-2017 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) to examine family financial hardship among families of children with ASD (ages 3-17 years) and their participation in four safety net programs: 1) cash assistance for poor families with children; 2) the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; 3) the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (also known as “food stamps”); 4) free and reduced-price meals in schools. The NSCH is a survey of child and family health, health care and wellbeing conducted yearly by the U.S. Census Bureau.

This report builds on the 2018 National Autism Indicators Report that found many low-income families of teenagers on the autism spectrum rely on federal safety net programs to help with things like health insurance and paying for food.

People with Disabilities and COVID-19 Data

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families. Those challenges get far more intense during disasters.  And coronavirus is proving to be the biggest disaster of all.

Bonnielin K. Swenor writes at STAT:

The pandemic response has been data-driven. Counts of the number of Covid-19 tests, infections, and mortality have been essential in shaping public health policies and response efforts. But for people with disabilities, which includes more than 61 million American adults, barriers to getting tested or accessing health care mean data from this group are less likely to be included in surveillance estimates. This creates a bias in the overall Covid-19 data that has ramifications for everyone, as this skew in the Covid-19 national estimates can misguide response efforts.

Tracking Covid-19 among people with disabilities is also limited by the lack, or inadequacy, of data reported by states. State-level data is used to create Covid-19 surveillance curves, making it a powerful tool in directing the pandemic response. Although state-reported data comes from various sources, it is largely derived from medical record information, including Covid-19 testing, hospitalization, and mortality statistics.

But consider the last time you were at the doctor. You were likely asked your age, gender identity, race, ethnicity, and even marital status. Were also asked if you have a disability? The answer is likely “no.” Information on disability is not often collected in health care settings. This has implications for patient outcomes but is also a missed opportunity for the national pandemic response. Although people with disabilities are at high risk for Covid-19, this information gap makes it almost impossible to develop strategies to reduce that risk.

Parents Dealing with Special Education

In The Politics of Autism, I write that autism parents must be advocates for their children, who in turn must grow up to be advocates for themselves. 

Very quickly, parents will learn that there is no one-stop shopping in the autism world.  Various providers offer various services, with various levels of support from the government, which largely depends on where one lives. Wherever they turn, parents run into red tape.  “Trying to obtain services for a special-needs child is a never-ending process,” one mother told a Tennessee journalist. “Taking care of the children is much simpler than taking care of the paperwork.”  Th

In special educations, parents face unusual challenges and must be proactive.  Those challenges get far more intense during disasters.  And coronavirus is proving to be the biggest disaster of all. Providing education is proving to be very difficult.

From Bridget Fetsko at Education Week:

COVID-19 Reopening and IDD

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families. Those challenges get far more intense during disasters.  And coronavirus is proving to be the biggest disaster of all.

At NYT, Hallie Levine writes that reopening will be a challenge for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as her daughter JoJo.

Studies suggest that death rates from pneumonia — a common Covid-19 complication — were up to 5.8 times higher in 2017 among those with intellectual disabilities. During the 2009 flu pandemic, more than 40 percent of the children who died had neurodevelopmental disorders. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has labeled intellectual disability as a high risk condition for flu.

An intellectual disability itself isn’t a risk factor for Covid-19 but kids with developmental disabilities often have other underlying medical conditions that could be. A recent study showed such kids are slightly more likely to die from Covid-19. Jo Jo also has Graves’ disease (a form of hyperthyroidism) and takes medicine that suppresses her immune system. A typical virus hits her hard: This winter she tested positive for the flu and ran a 104-degree fever for almost a week.

Knowing all this, it’s very tough for me to gauge if any activities — even outdoor ones — are safe for Jo Jo or her brothers, who may put her at risk. “In many ways, these last couple months, when everyone has stayed at home, was the easy part,” said Barbara Saunders, D.O., a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Children with Disabilities and the mother of a 16-year-old with Angelman syndrome. “Weighing when, and how, to re-enter the community without putting your child at risk is so much harder.”

Bureau of Indian Education and Special Ed

In The Politics of Autism, I write about special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Government Accountability Office, "INDIAN EDUCATION: Actions Needed to Ensure Students with Disabilities Receive Special Education Services," GAO-20-358: Published: May 22, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 5, 2020.

Are Native American students with disabilities getting the services they need?

Some in Bureau of Indian Education schools may not be.

Each of these students has an individualized education plan outlining the type, frequency, and duration of services the school is legally required to provide—e.g., physical therapy. Schools must log when and for how long the services in each plan are provided to students.

But schools didn’t provide or didn’t log almost 40% of students’ planned service time. The Bureau could do more to oversee and support schools in providing services.

Our recommendations are to help the Bureau better meet these students’ needs

 

Intellectual and Developmental Disability and COVID-19

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families. Those challenges get far more intense during disasters.  And coronavirus is proving to be the biggest disaster of all.

Margaret A.Turk, Scott D.Landes, Margaret K.Formica,  and Katherine D.Goss have an article at Disability and Health Journal titled "Intellectual and Developmental Disability and COVID-19 Case-Fatality Trends: TriNetX Analysis."  The abstract:

Background

Despite possibly higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), there has been limited reporting of COVID-19 trends for this population.

Objective

To compare COVID-19 trends among people with and without IDD, overall and stratified by age.

Methods

Data from the TriNetX COVID-19 Research Network platform was used to identify COVID-19 patients. Analysis focused on trends in comorbidities, number of cases, number of deaths, and case-fatality rate among patients with and without IDD who had a positive diagnosis for COVID-19 through May 14, 2020.

Results

People with IDD had higher prevalence of specific comorbidities associated with poorer COVID-19 outcomes. Distinct age-related differences in COVID-19 trends were present among those with IDD, with a higher concentration of COVID-19 cases at younger ages. In addition, while the overall case-fatality rate was similar for those with IDD (5.1%) and without IDD (5.4%), these rates differed by age: ages ≤17 – IDD 1.6%, without IDD.

 Conclusions

Though of concern for all individuals, COVID-19 appears to present a greater risk to people with IDD, especially at younger ages. Future research should seek to document COVID-19 trends among people with IDD, with particular attention to age related trends.

ASD on Twitter

 In The Politics of Autism, I examine the role of social media in the development of the issue.

Monica L Bellon-Harn, Jianyuan Ni, Vinaya Manchaiah have an article at Autism titled "Twitter Usage about Autism Spectrum Disorder."

Stakeholders within autism spectrum disorder communities use Twitter for specific purposes. The goal of this study was to characterize patterns and themes of tweet content and sentiment and intercommunications between users sending and retweeting content to their respective user networks. The study used cross-sectional analysis of data generated from Twitter. Twitter content, sentiment, users, and community networks were examined from a sample of tweets with the highest Twitter reach and the lowest Twitter reach. Results indicate that Twitter content from both samples was primarily related to empowerment and support. Differences between the number of tweets originating from an individual in the lowest reach sample (i.e. 41%) as compared to the individuals in the highest reach sample (i.e. 18%) were noted. The number of users belonging to an advocacy subcommunity was substantially larger than a clinical and research subcommunity. Results provide insight into the presuppositions of individuals with autism spectrum disorder, their families and significant others, and other stakeholders.

From the article:

The second most frequently identified category from the highest reach sample emphasized the fact that vaccines do not cause autism. This content comprised the most tweets in a given hour on a given day. Please note that the >5000 and >3000 retweets were not excluded and could influence these results. Fewer tweets included misinformation about vaccines.

A big limitation here:  many antivax tweets do not use the autism or the other keywords employed in this study. They often link to material that propounds the discredited notion of a vaccine-autism link but the tweets themselves speak in more general terms, using terms such as "informed consent," "vaccine safety" or "vaccine choice."  (See this post about "entryism.")

Office of International Disability Rights Act

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss international perspectives.

From Senator Bob Casey:

This week, U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Chris Coons (D-DE) introduced the Office of International Disability Rights Act, which would establish an Office of International Disability Rights within the U.S. Department of State, headed by an Ambassador-at-Large for Disability Rights, to ensure the United States is focused on advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities around the world. While the State Department has previously had Special Advisors on International Disability Rights, the position has not been consistently filled, and resources for programming on disability rights and inclusion have been scant. This legislation would aim to rectify that issue by requiring the State Department and other agencies that provide foreign assistance to integrate disability inclusion and policies into their programming. Companion legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV-1) and Don Young (R-AK).

“All too often, people with disabilities are excluded from the labor market, political participation and meaningful involvement in public life. And, during this global pandemic, people with disabilities have been victims of the crisis in much greater numbers than the rest of the public. As a global leader in disability rights, the United States has a responsibility to promote the rights of people with disabilities,” said Senator Casey. “This legislation would put policies in place to ensure that all foreign service agencies are responsive to the needs of people with disabilities and establish a much-needed permanent office to serve the international disability community.”

“US leadership in protecting the rights of people with disabilities around the world is now more important than ever. People with disabilities are uniquely at-risk during this global pandemic and in its aftermath — facing economic marginalization, denial of access to medical care and services, and placement in nursing homes and other institutions. The US disability rights community has much to offer in meeting those challenges,” said Eric Rosenthal, Executive Director of Disability Rights International.

"The State Department deserves to have a permanent, senior-level official devoted to meeting the needs of and advocating on behalf of people with disabilities worldwide, who compose more than one in every eight people on earth. When enacted, this bill will empower a commitment by our government to support the rights and incorporate the needs of the international disability community in our foreign policy. It would help bring the commitment the United States makes every day through the Americans with Disabilities Act alive across the globe," said Jeff Meer, U.S. Executive Director of Humanity & Inclusion.

"Focusing on and giving emphasis to how the pandemic is affecting people with disabilities around the globe will be more likely if this legislation receives strong bipartisan support quickly,” said U.S. International Council on Disabilities President Dr. Patricia Morrissey. “It will give energy and catalytic leverage to our embassies to facilitate proactive, responsive efforts to include people with disabilities and their need in all recovery effort decision making.”

“Today, we are one step closer to advocating more effectively alongside the one billion persons with disabilities worldwide who seek to fully exercise their rights," said International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) President and CEO Anthony N. Banbury. “IFES believes the promise of democracy can only be fulfilled when all citizens can equally participate. IFES thanks Senator Casey and co-sponsors Senators Durbin, Duckworth and Coons for their leadership on disability rights and democracy."

The Office of International Disability Rights Act would also improve hiring, recruitment and overseas assignments for individuals with disabilities within the State Department. It would require U.S. embassies and consulates abroad to ensure accessibility and compliance with the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1973, as required by law. This legislation also would require all civil and foreign service personnel to undergo disability inclusion training, including requiring incoming Foreign Service Officers to learn to spot risks and vulnerabilities of individuals with disabilities in specific country contexts.

The Office of International Disability Rights Act has been endorsed by Disability Rights International, Humanity & Inclusion, the United States International Council on Disabilities and the International Foundation for Electoral systems.

Special Education Job Losses

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families. Those challenges get far more intense during disasters.  And coronavirus is proving to be the biggest disaster of all. Providing education is proving to be very difficult.

Elise Gould at The Economic Policy Institute:

More K–12 public education jobs were lost in April than in all of the Great Recession. And that’s before any austerity measures from lost state and local revenue have been put in place. A look at the Current Population Survey reveals that losses in public education were concentrated in certain occupations. While some teachers were spared, namely elementary and middle school teachers, others were not. Half of the job losses in K–12 public education between March and April were among special education teachers, tutors, and teaching assistants. Not only are these job losses devastating to those no longer getting a paycheck, but they negatively impact the education students receive. Other significant job losses occurred among counselors, nurses, janitors, and other building maintenance workers. Without sufficient staffing, we cannot safely reopen schools and get parents back to work—which will in turn hamper economic recovery.

HEROES Act

The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of insurance and  Medicaid services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities

The House passed the HEROES Act.  The Autism Society supports passage in the Senate:

The HEROES Act provides dedicated funding for Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) and supports that can be used to increase wages for direct support professionals, to help provider agencies obtain personal protection equipment, serve individuals on waiting lists, and to strengthen the entire service system.

The bill also includes additional funding for Developmental Disabilities Act programs, education (including special education), employment services, additional direct payments to individuals, expanded paid leave, and many other provisions that will help families during this crisis.

ACTION NEEDED
Contact your Senators NOW and urge them to support the HEROES Act (HR 6800). Call them toll-free 202-224-3121 or use this action alert to easily email.

Republicans and Vaccines

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.

Philip Bump at WP reports on a new WP/ABC poll:

[M]ore than 7 in 10, say they would get a free vaccine, with 43 percent saying they would definitely do so. Among Republicans, though, only 58 percent say they would probably or definitely get the vaccine — with a quarter saying they definitely wouldn’t.

To some extent, that reflects existing skepticism about the importance of vaccinations. Gallup polling published in January shows that Democrats are 13 points more likely than Republicans to say that they think it’s extremely or very important that parents vaccinate their children. In 2001, the gap was only 4 points, and more than 90 percent of both Democrats and Republicans indicated that vaccinating children was important.

In the years since, there has been a concerted campaign aimed at undermining the utility of vaccines, often stemming from the erroneous belief that there’s a link between vaccines and autism. The result has been a subtle decline in confidence in vaccines, one which has been larger among Republicans than Democrats.

Amy Goldstein and Scott Clement at WP:

The poll finds that 15 percent say they will definitely not get vaccinated against the virus, even if one is free and available to everyone. Among Republicans, 24 percent hold this view. Of all those who say they definitely or probably will not get vaccinated, half say that is because they do not trust vaccines in general and nearly one-fourth say one is not necessary in this instance.

Dr. Suneel Kamath at US News:

No vaccine has ever caused autism. Multiple studies conducted by the CDC and the Institute of Medicine since 2003 have definitively proven this. Many wrongly correlated the recent rise in autism rates with more vaccines. They wrongly assumed that kids developing autism within days or weeks of getting vaccines meant the vaccines caused their autism. Greater awareness of the signs and symptoms by parents and doctors led to better recognition of autism and, therefore, more diagnoses. Vaccines were falsely-convicted, innocent bystanders.