The Devil's in the Details

A letter in Sunday's Whig attempted to connect autism and flu shots, at least by implication:

"It is interesting to note that autism strikes 1 in 150 children except in New Jersey where it occurs in 1 in 95. New Jersey is one of the few states that requires all children get flu vaccines."

It is also interesting to note that these statistics come from a CDC study of data from 2002, a study that included data from all or parts of 14 states. To quote an article from the 2007 release of the study, "[T]hose states are not demographically representative of the nation as a whole, so officials cautioned against using the results as a national average."

And: "Also, the study does not answer whether autism is increasing — a controversial topic, driven in part by the contention by some parents and advocates that autism is linked to a vaccine preservative. The best scientific studies have not borne out that claim."

And finally, the New Jersey statistics came from only four counties in the northernmost part of the state, so it is difficult if not impossible to generalize from those numbers.

Oh, and by the way. . . New Jersey did not require the flu vaccine in 2002. That requirement only went into effect in 2007.