Yahoo.com

When Susan Lawson of Colorado hears parents declaring, unequivocally, that everyone should vaccinate their children because it's perfectly safe, she says it feels "like a punch in the gut." That's because she's seen another side of the story: Her daughter Julia, now 9, was left with permanent brain damage - an injury acknowledged by a federal court payout - after receiving her MMRV (measles-mumps-rubella-varicella) shot when she was a year old. . . .

Serious vaccine injuries and deaths are few and far between, according to the CDC. "Like any medication, vaccines can cause side effects," a spokesperson tells Yahoo Parenting through an email. "The side effects associated with getting vaccines are almost always mild (such as redness and swelling where the shot was given) and go away within a few days. Severe reactions, such as a severe allergic reaction, are rare." . . .

"Vaccine-injured children"?  Is there such a thing?  From the tone of the current coverage on measles that doesn't seem possible.

Beth Greenfield wrote this.  I'm amazed.  Someone actually looked into the VICP.  This piece cites MMR damage.  (Maybe this woman would be interested in writing about "Unanswered Questions" and ask why no one followed up on the duplicity of  government officials who deny any link between vaccines and autism while secretly compensating children for injuries that included autism.)

NY Times

Occupational therapy is a treatment with an enormous wingspan. So called because it helps people with the tasks that occupy their everyday lives, it can be used to help a child manage sensitivities to things like noise or touch. It can be deployed to help a stroke victim recover certain functions. And it is widely used to give a boost to children who have trouble with their handwriting, typing or other fine motor skills.

And widely used it has been. Over the last four years, New York City public schools have seen a 30 percent increase in the number of students referred to occupational therapy, to nearly 42,000 students. The city covers the cost, which at $58 million a year is up from $38 million just five years ago. (That dollar figure does not include therapists in schools fully devoted to special-education students.)

In Chicago, 6,600 students now receive the therapy, up 20 percent in three years; in Los Angeles, the number has jumped 30 percent in five years, to 9,000.

The main reason, officials in New York and other cities said, is an increase in autism diagnoses among children, which have grown, at least in part, because of more accurate identifications of the disorder.

Let me get this straight.  42,000 students in New York City schools receive OT services, due mostly to the number of children with ASD.  The same thing is happening in places like Chicago and Los Angeles.

There is no demand for answers or even an admission that anything is really wrong here. The whole thing may just be "more accurate identifications of the disorder," along with :students on the rolls who do not really need it."

Here's more proof that no matter how bad the numbers and the cost, anything involving autism will never be a problem.

Washington Post:

As media attention to the measles outbreak in California continues to grow and prominent politicians weigh in with conflicting messages on requiring vaccines, health policy scholars and political scientists warn of the dangerous consequences that politicization can have on public support for vaccination. And they do so for good reason. . . .

Of course, perhaps coverage of the measles vaccine will prove different.  Nevertheless, politicians and journalists should realize that politicizing vaccines - and reporting on the resulting conflict - can weaken the public's support for vaccination.

Another call to only talk about one side---the pro-vaccine one.

The Dachel Media Update is sponsored by Lee Silsby Compounding Pharmacy and OurKidsASD.  Lee Silsby is one of the most respected compounding pharmacies in the country and is committed to serving the needs of the Autism community. OurkidsASD is an online retailer for nutritional supplements for patients with special needs. OurkidsASD carries thousands of products from more than 60 brands and offers free ground shipping on all orders.

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism and author of  The Big Autism Cover-Up: How and Why the Media Is Lying to the American Public, which is on sale now from Skyhorse Publishing.