Kristin Cavallari , the former Laguna Beach and The Hills star, recently opened up about her choice to not have and of her children immunized. Kristin has received criticism from friends, fans, and family, but she is standing by her decision.
So, why does Kristin refuse to have her one-year-old son Camden Cutler, and any of her future children vaccinated? She explained, during an interview with HuffPost Live , that she fears having her children vaccinated could lead to them developing autism in the future.
“Vaccines are not something I wanted to publicly come out and speak on. I sort of got bombarded in this interview and thrown off-guard.
There’s really scary statistics out there, and to each their own. Autism wasn’t prevalent — like it is now — years ago, so something is going on, whether it’s the chemicals in our food or the vaccines.
Something is happening, and we can’t really ignore that. I choose to believe that I think it’s in the vaccines but, again, to each their own and that’s where I stand on it.”
Camden has not had a single vaccination, and Cavallari says her new son will also not be vaccinated. The CDC explains that autism spectrum disorder has been identified in approximately 1 in 88 children. The prevalence in boys is even more shocking: 1 in 54.
“You know what? I have read too many books about autism,” she explained. “There is a pediatric group called Homestead, or Home First? Pregnancy brain, I’ve got it confused They’ve never vaccinated any of their children and they haven’t had one case of autism. And now, 1 in 88 boys is autistic, which is a really scary statistic…”
Watch out ladies! pic.twitter.com/JDNgCXLWYu
— Kristin Cavallari (@KristinCav) April 25, 2013
Despite Cavallari’s beliefs, doctors say they there is no connection between vaccinations and autism, and by having a celebrity announce that she will not be vaccinating her children could lead to more children going without their vaccines.
“Any association between vaccines and autism has long been disproven,” the chief of the section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Chicago Dr. Kenneth Alexander explained. “Her words are dangerous, will result in the under-immunization of children, and an increase in morbidity and mortality due to vaccine preventable diseases,” he continued. “Celebrity status does not indicate scientific expertise.”
For more information about children’s vaccines, you can call toll free 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636) or visit http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines .
Do you think Kristin should vaccinate her children? Leave your comments below.
[Image via Twitter ]