Copyright timesnownews
Billionaire entrepreneur Sridhar Vembu was criticised by doctors for commenting that vaccines can cause autism in children. In his post on X (formerly Twitter), the 57-year-old founder of Zoho, cited a “review” of the dubious McCullough Foundation, which supposedly analysed various 300 studies and claimed that early and combined childhood vaccination was a major risk factor for autism. The foundation’s report has been co-authored by Peter McCullough and Andrew Wakefield, who has been debarred from the medical profession. Wakefield co-wrote a retracted 1998 Lancet paper that falsely connected the measles, mumps, rubella, or MMR vaccine with autism. It was proven to be a lie that cost lives across the world. “Parents should take this analysis seriously. I believe there is increasing evidence that we are giving way too many vaccines to very young children. This is spreading in India too, and we are seeing a rapid increase in autism in India,” he wrote on X. Reacting to his tweet, many doctors slammed Vembu for his “irresponsible behaviour and sharing unverified information. Leading health authorities across the world have hailed vaccines as completely safe, effective, and not linked to autism - a condition characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction. A series of posts by Vembu sparked outrage from doctors and scientists, accusing him of peddling pure scepticism in the name of science. "The conclusions of this so-called study are not credible,” wrote Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, better known as @theliverdr on X. “The authors are antivaxxers funded by an antivaxx organisation, and their claims haven’t been peer-reviewed or scientifically scrutinised.” “This is utterly irresponsible. Luckily, people don’t listen to folk like you otherwise, we would have an infectious disease crisis on our hands,” wrote Dr Amit Gupta, Clinical Lead for Neonatal Care, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. Epidemiologist Dr Manthan K called Vembu’s series of tweets “a classic case of medical disinformation.” Many other experts said Vembu’s opinion has not created any new doors for discussion but will lead to confusion since vaccines have been instrumental in saving the lives of children from many deadly diseases across the world. How are Vembu’s remarks anti-science? According to experts, the McCullough report, which Vembu cited in the post, has claimed that 79 per cent of the studies it reviewed found a link between vaccination and autism. However, the study was not published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, and many of the cited sources in it were discredited or taken out of context. The World Health Organisation and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have time and again affirmed that there is no credible proof that vaccines cause autism. The largest epidemiological study, which was done on the subject to date in Denmark on more than six lakh children, has found no increased risk of autism after MMR vaccination. The same study said children who were vaccinated were slightly less likely to be diagnosed with autism due to broader healthcare access and earlier developmental screening. Why are autism cases increasing? Doctors say there is a significant rise in reported autism cases across the world due to a combination of factors, which include: Increased awareness and improved diagnostic methods Broadened diagnostic criteria Better understanding of the condition as a spectrum While a true increase in prevalence is still being studied, other contributing factors may include genetics, environmental exposures before or during pregnancy, and older parental age at conception.
