Vaccines and Autism

In 1998, a study was published in the British medical journal Lancet by a physician named Andrew Wakefield that described 8 children who had developed autism-like symptoms after approximately a month after receiving a routine vaccination for measles-mumps-rubella. Since that publication, many parents became increasingly concerned about having their children vaccinated. However, many renowned medical bodies including the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), WHO (World Health Organization), and the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), as well as most in the medical community consider this scientific report highly flawed. In fact, most would consider the hypothesis that vaccines cause autism as an example of “pseudoscience” (pseudo = false). Pseudoscience can be defined as a collection of beliefs or assumptions mistakenly regarded as based on the scientific method and therefore scientific. Please go to the following link on WEB MD http://www(dot)webmd(dot)com/brain/autism/searching-for-answers/vaccines-autism
and also read the posted article by Gerber and Offit published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases (Reading 1 Assignment 2). Then answer the following questions:
1. In one or two sentences, briefly describe in general what a vaccine is and how it works (1 point).
2. In one or two sentences, briefly describe what autism is. In a sentence or two, define “regressive autism”. (1 point)
3. Of the evidence that contradicts the autism-vaccine hypothesis, what do you think is the most convincing? (1 point)
4. Read the posting on UBlearns entitled “childhood vaccines” (Reading 2 Assignment 2) which provides information on CDC recommended vaccines. Choose two of these vaccines and state what disease it protects against and the possible consequences to a child if they contract that disease. (1 point)
5. Do you consider the hypothesis that vaccines cause autism “pseudoscience” and do you believe that children should be vaccinated? Briefly explain why or why not. (1 point)
Please type and answer these questions in word document. additional sources list above are given