News 12 First at Five, April 2, 2008

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Today is the first ever International Autism Day, but a debate about the disorder has been going on for years now.
The question, what causes it?

Doctors don't know for sure, but they know what it can do and parents know it can be devastating.

In some cases, their child can't talk. Others have trouble with language.
The kids don't make eye contact and they can't relate to others well.
It is a very isolating disorder and right now, there's very little doctors can do for kids with it, but so many kids have autism.

The newest government report shows 1 in every 150 children now have Autism, a statistic that is even scarier for boys as 1 in 94 boys is Autistic.

With so many kids affected, doctors are working on a cause, but some parents say they already know what that cause is--vaccines.

Health team 12 has a closer look at one family's decision to wait on vaccinating their child -- just in case.

Whether vaccines cause or contribute to autism is a hotly debated topic in the medical community and for parents.

The Morris family did some research, and they say they are holding out.

""I would rather take the risk of my child developing measles and curing them, then her develop autism and live in this box the rest of her life." says mom Mary Wingate. She and her fiance, Joseph Morris Junior, have decided to wait a little while longer before vaccinating their six month old daughter, Georgia Alison any further.

"She's gorgeous and she's trying to talk to us." says Morris.

"She is everything to us, everything and more." gushes Wingate.

But one thing Georgia won't be seeing any more of any time soon--are vaccines.

"I could not risk her losing her little personality..she's developing at such a fast pace right now, she's already two months ahead of her time." and mom and dad want her to stay that way.

A late night with Georgia was the wake-up call mom didn't even know she was looking for. She stumbled across a TV show with Jenny McCarthy as the guest.

Something Jenny said -- brought her here to a website she runs, www.generationrescue.com

"I was like wow she really is passionate about this and wants people to know more about this." says Wingate.

McCarthey has an autistic child and like so many others, she believes vaccines caused her son's disorder.

It's an argument Dr. David Freeman, with more than 20 years of pediatric medicine experience, strongly rejects. "Vaccines do not cause autism."

But what does cause the disorder is still a mystery. What isn't for Dr. Freeman is how much vaccines can help. Experts say last year alone, vaccines prevented 14 million infections, saved 40 billion in medical costs, and prevented 33 thousand deaths.

"The rate of complications for the diseases is far more greater than that from immunizations." Dr. Freeman encourages parents to talk about autism and immunization with their pediatricianswhich is what the Morris' did.

"Our Pediatrician did advise us that the association of doctors is so split right now that she didn't even know if she would let her children have the vaccines if she could do it all over again." explains Wingate.

And for now both mom and dad are happy with their decision to wait. "She's going to have the shots and she will be fine, it will just be when she is 18 months."

"We want her to be as healthy as possible and any way we can prevent autism or any disease, we're going to try to do that." adds Morris.

Dr. Freeman says since the family's six month old daughter is not in daycare the family is probably o-k to hold off, not that he recommends it though. Dr. Freeman adds, if the entire community began postponing vaccines or eliminating them all together we could see an outbreak of some diseases previously avoided thanks to immunizations.