vaccination question for a child with Trisomy 21

[Rusalka]

Dear Doc,

my son has a Down Syndrome and he is not vaccinated. After his birth I met a mother of a child with DS, who was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3, after he received the common vaccinations. This mother told me that vaccination is probably the cause of the autism. Although I don't have a scientific proofs of that I decided not to give vaccination to my child, I was just to scare of the possible risk. But sometimes I'm not sure if I made the right decision... What would you say?

Thank you!

[DrBobSears]

For any parent who decides not to vaccinate, I don't try to talk them into vaccinating. Going unvaccinated is not a dangerous choice. It's a reasonably small risk.

[DrBobSears]

I have a few current patients with Down Syndrome, and most do vaccinate. I don't consider DS a reason to avoid vaccines. As for autism and vaccines in general, that's a very complicated question. I can't answer it here. The most complete answer i've written is in the updated version of The Vaccine Book, Oct 2011. i've a whole chapter on it there.