MMR vaccination and relationship to autism among children study proposal Background

The MMR vaccine is meant to give protection against measles, mumps and rubella diseases. The vaccine contains live measles, mumps and rubella viruses which have been significantly weakened or attenuated. These attenuated viruses trigger or stimulate the human immune system but does not cause disease in a healthy individual. This vaccine should not be given to individuals with suppressed immunity or immune-suppressed people due to some underlying illness or due to drug treatment. These exception groups include the babies whose mothers, during their pregnancy or during the days of breastfeeding had immunosuppressive treatment. The reason for their exclusion from the vaccine is due to the possibility of the vaccine strain replicating too much hence causing serious infection (Oxford Vaccine Group, 2018).

Problem statement

There have been a good number of misconceptions about the MMR vaccine with the major one being that it is responsible for the onset of autism in children. There have been claims of children developing autism soon after they have been vaccinated hence the need to investigate further this claim and known the facts surrounding the claims.

The problem statement in this respect therefore is do the benefits outweigh the risks among children who receive the MMR vaccine as compared to the children who are denied the vaccine and end up developing autism.

This study will therefore delve into finding out whether among the children who end up developing autism, there is any higher risks that can be quantified among those who received t5hye MMR vaccine as compared to those children who do not receive the MMR vaccine. This will help explain or debunk the claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism in children.

Significance of the study

The study will help shed more light into the controversy of whether the MMR vaccine causes autism among children or not. This makes the study very significant in that it will be instrumental for the medical doctors, helpful for the social health worker, informative for the home care giver and also educative to the family members of children suffering from autism. The results of the study will help add to the already existing pool of knowledge in the vaccination and its effects in effect correcting hitherto formed misconceptions. The study will also utilize the literature review from peer reviewed articles to clearly show how this vaccine is administered and the side effects or possible adverse events that it has been proven to cause over the years. Such information will help further clarify through exclusion that these cases of autism are not in any way tied to the administration of the MMR vaccine.

Potential results of the study

Bearing the researches done before, there is a high likelihood of the study finding out that the MMR vaccination does not in any way predispose children to the autistic related...

This is a premeditated conclusion bearing that great medical research have been done with the concern having been raised and so far there have not been tangible evidence to the MMR vaccine causing autism in children. According to the Health Line journal, (2018), there have been no conclusive evidence that MMR vaccine is responsible for any single case of autism among children. Indeed, it indicates that the CDC has it that the MMR vaccine has helped prevent a host of other infections like measles, mumps and rubella. Bering these significant findings in the previous research, it is highly likely that this study will bring out once more that the scare from MMR vaccine on guise of getting autism for children is a void claim that has not data backing.
The possible results of the study can also be deduced bearing in mind the already known side effects of the MMR vaccine. These include redness, pain and at times swelling of the injection site. Such Side effects occur 1 in every 10 people who get this vaccination. The other side effects that have been observed include children getting raised temperatures, they lose appetite and get measles-like rushes on their body. This is said to be normal and is a sign that the measles part of the vaccine has started to work, these symptoms ay to for 2-3 days and then disappear without leaving behind any more adverse effects. Some children will develop mumps-like symptoms like the slightly raised temperatures, swollen glands in the neck, under the jaw or on the cheek. Such symptoms are known to set in after three weeks of the vaccination and are so rare that it affects 1 in every 50 children, a sign that the mumps part of the vaccine has started working. The other side effect is the inflammation of the joints as a sign of arthritis or arthralgia, a condition that is very rare among children but can be more pronounced and frequent in adult women but lasts for about 3 days and disappears (Health Link, 2018). With these well known symptoms and side effects, the study can deduce in advance that the development of autism is highly unlikely to be one of the adverse events experienced by the children who receive the MMR vaccination since such is a serious event that could have been captured by these previous studies.

Research design

Being a medical study, there are various factors that need to be taken into account when choosing the research design that would be used. The ethical aspect of the research needs to be considered as guided by the good clinical practices (GCPs). The aspect of doing no harm to the research participants will be the guiding principle in this study. The study will endure to ensure the research participants are not subjected to any undue possibility of harm that otherwise they would not be exposed to if the research was not conducted. The research will safeguard the participants that opt to volunteer into the study and their confidentiality will be of utmost consideration in the entire study…