February 17, 2002
Research: Causes and Prevention
Question from Houston, Texas, USA:
My six year old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about five months ago, had an MMR vaccination three weeks before his diagnosis, and before that, he had the same MMR shot elsewhere. Since the doctor did not write it down on his shot record, we were told that it would not hurt him if he received the shot twice. Is this true? I purchased a book that speaks about immunizations, which says that a lot of children have become ill from the MMR shot. Now my son has type 1 diabetes.
Answer:
The Centers for Disease Control have done extensive research on immunizations and diabetes. There is no connection. Your son was on the way to diabetes years before the diagnosis was made.
Type 1 diabetes starts with an insult to the pancreas that comes a long time before the disease is diagnosed. The MMR vaccination three weeks before the actual diagnosis was really too close to even be a factor.
LD
[Editor’s comment: See Immunizations and Type 1 Diabetes.
SS]
