An Update: Counting on Autism Society of America to Make Touchdown on Vaccine Safety Research at IACC
By Theresa Wrangham
The following is an update to Theresa's article on Age of Autism on September 22, 2009.
Yesterday’s IACC panel meeting focused on question three of the IACC's strategic plan - “What Caused This to Happen and Can It Be Prevented?”. Materials used by the group for the purposes of discussion were not furnished to the public and the meeting was at times difficult to follow. SafeMinds had requested these materials in advance, however the Office of Autism Coordination (OARC) turned down the request. A number of good points were made with regard to the need for prevention by ASA CEO Lee Grossman in using data on individuals with co-morbid medical conditions to assist in moving forward on the development of screening/treatments as well as the possibility of their use in prevention. Jeff Sell also stated the need to address environmental factors in regressive autism with Dr. Craig Newschaffer agreeing that this was indeed a gap; and, that while existing studies are underway to attempt to gather such information, more studies are needed. Lee Grossman added that new models and methods to assess heterogeneity of ASD were needed.
Gap three initiatives identified by the group were all vaccine related. One initiative gap was a vaccinated/unvaccinated study that was previously approved by the IACC in December, removed in January and referred to the NVAC for suggestions. In June, the NVAC reported that a comparative study of vaccinated and unvaccinated populations was indeed a gap. In the end it is up to the IACC to approve the initiative, which unfortunately didn't happen on the phone call. Jeff stated that the community is very vocal on these points and that retroactive studies would deliver clues and while Lee and Jeff were supportive of the study, their arguments didn't resonate with others, with some panelists questioning if a vax/unvax study was a charge to the committee at all since total health outcomes would be broader than autism. Additionally, other members of the panel disagreed and felt that prospective studies and reliance on studies underway that are collecting vaccine data would be adequate in identifying susceptibilities and take advantage of surveillance opportunities.
ASA also opened the door on the possibility of alternative vaccine schedules where special populations were concerned. The group felt that while that is a good idea, they don't have the data to support this and will need to do the studies first before jumping ahead. In terms of retrospective studies, the panel could not come to a consensus. Jeff Sell has indicated that he will give a minority report on the vaccine issues in the panel’s presentation during the upcoming workshop. Post vaccine investigation as it relates to immune response were consensus points for the panel. Dr. Newschaffer also commented that there was a need for toxicological goals, as they were not present in the strategic plan, as well as identification of environmental risk factors and epigenetic goals to be investigated. However, as SafeMinds reported earlier, this type expertise was not chosen by the IACC to be present for these meetings, though requested, and as a result the panel was unable to do more than identify gaps in this respect.
SafeMinds encourages the public to attend the Scientific workshop and advocate for the points outlined in the AoA article that posted September 22nd.
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