What Do You Think of Kristin Cavallari’s Controversial Stance on Vaccinations?

By: Ivy Jacobson for TheBump.com

Kristin Cavallari now has something in common with Jenny McCarthy: Vaccinations.

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Kristin, who is pregnant with her second child and already a mother to son Camden, 18-months-old, publicly spoke out against vaccinating her children, due to concerns about autism. On Fox's show The Independents, Kristin said that she and husband Jay Cutler are choosing to not vaccinate either of their children.

"You know what, I've read too many books about autism," Kristin said. "There is a pediatric group called Homestead or, shoot, Homestead or Home First - now I have pregnancy brain, I got them confused - but they've never vaccinated any of their children and they've never had one case of autism. And now, one in 88 boys is autistic, which is a really scary statistic."

Kristin then clarified her stance on vaccines on Fox & Friends a day later after facing backlash for her comments and not saying which books she read to form her opinion.

More from The Bump: Vaccinations: What baby will need

"It is a harsh response. You know, it's not something that I publicly wanted to come out and say. I was in an interview and it came up, and it wasn't what I was expecting. But, you know, listen, to each their own. I understand both sides of it. I've read too many books about autism and there's some scary statistics out there. It's our personal choice, you know, and if you're really concerned about your kid, then get them vaccinated and it shouldn't be a problem."

The actress further explained her choice to forego the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine for her children on Huffington Post Live.

"Vaccines are not something I wanted to publicly come out and speak on," Cavallari told HuffPost Live of her previous interview remarks. "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."

The American Academy of Pediatrics does recommend vaccinating your children, since it's been proven that there is no connection between vaccines causing autism, according to Michael T. Brady, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Infectious Diseases and chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

"The total number of children diagnosed with autism has increased," says Brady. "But also the total number of children diagnosed with 'mental retardation' has gone down. We're not seeing autism more, but rather, we were probably incorrectly diagnosing autism as mental retardation in the past. Autism is a condition where the primary abnormality is in social interaction, and most social interactions are difficult to gauge in a child under one year old. I don't think there will ever be a study that associates vaccinations with autism."

Also, according to our 5th Annual Member Study, 9-in-10 Bumpies plan to follow the recommended vaccination schedule and vaccinate their children.

Are you for or against vaccinating your children? © 2013 The Bump. All rights reserved.

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