When our bodies encounter a virus or bacteria or other foreign substance, the thing which fights the invaders is our immune system. The foreign substances will be attacked by our cells and broken into bits of protein which are recognized as being “not-self” – since our immune system is generally pretty good and picking out what is and isn’t a normal part of our body. Our immune cells respond by multiplying slowly, producing antibodies that will specifically target the pieces of the invaders that they encounter to mount an attack. This takes a while but eventually the body clears the infection and you’ll have memory cells which can respond stronger and faster if you encounter that invader again – this gives us a degree of lasting protection to specific microbe invaders.

A vaccine is a shot that contains inactivated or dead parts [proteins] of these invaders – it explicitly lacks the parts of the invader that make us sick. When it is injected into the body, it is taken up by immune cells which then present them to other cells in our immune system as if they were encountered during an actual invasion. The big difference? Your immune system is mounting a response before you’ve encountered the pathogen – so you don’t get sick.

Why is this important? If you encounter the actual live version of the invader, your immune system already has a memory cell specific to that invader. So when he tries to break in, he’ll immediately be fucked up by our immune cells.

Vaccines are exclusively for generating an immune response against invaders. Our immune system is not involved with the development of Autism or the brain – it is too busy focusing on keeping our house in order.

For the first six months, your baby will need breast milk so that the mother’s antibodies [which are in the milk] offer continued protection – around 6 months, the baby will start to be able to produce its own antibodies: but the child should not be switched off until 1 year old to maximize protection and begin a very slow transition to cow milk [first with diluted cow milk to anticipate and avoid a cow milk allergy developing].

Autism is a spectrum of developmental disorders that impact ability to socialize, overall behaviour, etc. The biggest risk factors for autism – having a first degree relative [parent, child, sibling]/affected member of the family as well as maternal age. This means that there are two big factors: genetics and environment.

What in our environment can cause autism? Research is ongoing – but scientists are focused on:

• ⁠viral infections [which our immune system must fight]
• ⁠medications
• ⁠pregnancy complications
• ⁠even some air pollutants

So wait, if viral infections can possible cause autism then I shouldn’t vaccinate my kids! Right?

No. WRONG. The reason viral infections could possibly contribute to autism is because of what happens when a child gets sick – the invader creates trouble in the brain and this is what ultimately causes developmental problems. You lower the risk of autism by providing the child with vaccinations against viral invaders. Why’s that? Again, because the vaccine is providing inactivated or dead elements of the invader to stimulate the immune system into having memory cells that fight off the invader when it really invades. If there’s an army waiting to fight the invader, it won’t have the chance to spread far before it is destroyed – which limits the ultimate effect that it will have on the baby’s development.