The Immune System and Autism 

jpeds S0022-3476(10)01048-6/abstract

The Journal of Pediatrics reported this week research that supports the science that childhood vaccines alter the immune system. Now, the Journal didn't realize that it was reporting this information that is so controversial. Why? Because the research involved lowering the risk of some childhood cancers as being associated with 3 different kinds of "shots" (HiB, IPV, Hep B). 
In a case controlled study (= retrospective study) of 14,000 Texas school age children, those who were more completely vaccinated had a lower risk of some leukemias and brain tumors than those who were more weren't as thoroughly 'immunized'. The authors concluded that their finding should be verified in larger studies using individual vaccination histories. Sounds a lot like the concluding sentence of the now vilified Dr. Andrew Wakefield's original paper. 
Nobody is asking for these authors heads on a platter. No one is suggesting that there is some conspiracy to make people actually want to get vaccinated. Yo, AAP. You've got a problem. You can't have it both ways. You can't say that it's impossible that vaccinations, which have been implicated in a number of studies as having negative effects on the immune system possibly by leading to autism, may only have a positive impact. Once the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, that there is peer-reviewed research that indicates any other-than-expected outcome from the modern anti-cootie protocol, there needs to be "larger studies using individual vaccine histories" for all outcomes, not simply the ones that indicate a 'useful' side effect. 
How many studies have been done to link autism to children who get vaccinated while they are "sick", while their siblings or schoolmates are ill, when they have a previous negative reaction to a shot, when children are allergic to the vehicle that the vaccine is prepared in, or when there are multiple shots given on the same day? What we keep seeing is information that shows that in huge populations who receive a similar schedule to today's recommendations, if you look back at the autistic versus the neuro-typical children, they both had the same schedule. There is no increased incidence of ASD in the highly-vaccinated children. But, that information doesn't address the very information that this study that I quoted asks to elucidate - individual vaccine histories. 
So, there you have it. Any time your pediatrician says that there is no evidence that vaccinations alter the immune system, let him/her know how much good that it can do. Maybe, maybe, that will trip an alarm that says "hmmm, is that all that it does?"