(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone, Steve Adubato.

Recently on our sister series, "Lessons in Leadership," my colleague Mary Gamba and I sat down and spoke with Michele Adubato, my sister, who is the founder of the Center for Autism, and we talked about a whole range of issues, not only what it means to run a nonprofit in these challenging times but also the myths and the misinformation around vaccines and autism.

Important stuff.

Check it out.

- Michele knows more about autism than most.

What do we need to know about vaccines and autism?

Lots of confusion, shouldn't be.

- There's no confusion.

Let me make it, here it is.

Ready?

Vaccines do not cause autism.

And I think that's the problem where you people think there's confusion when there's no confusion.

The confusion is called social media conspiracy theories, which has been rampant, as we know, in everything.

Vaccines do not cause autism.

But you know what vaccines do?

They save lives.

That's what they do.

I think what happened, somebody jumped on, there was one silly study with 12 people, and that has been debunked over, and over, and over again.

But we need to remember something.

That it happens to be a coincidence.

That it could be that when autism presents itself, it could be at that same age, between that age where you may be getting a vaccine.

So what we need to think about is, it may be a coincidence, but it's not a cause.

- That's good, so people confuse.

- Absolutely.

- Oh, it must be that.

- Yes.

- It's not that.

Not that.

- Because when we don't understand something, we wanna put a label on it, and autism certainly cannot be labeled one thing.

We see that all the time.

It's a spectrum disorder.

I mean, it's a spectrum.

And there are different, obviously different reasons or different theories why that occurs.

But 100%, vaccines do not cause autism.

- Before, as Mary jumps in, I wanna remind folks, Michele is not only the CEO of the North Ward Center, an organization our dad founded in 1970, a multi-purpose community-based organization.

Services have ranged from very small children all the way to adult daycare center, folks in their 80s, 90s, beyond, but also the founder of the Center for Autism, a nationally respected operation.

Mary jump in.

- Sure thing.

And this is also gonna be airing on our PBS programming.

So for full disclosure, the North Ward Center is an underwriter.

Thank you for your support, Michele, all these years.

- Are they?

I didn't know that.

- We're supposed to disclose that right here on PBS.

So Michele, I would love to just get your input and site guidance for those parents who are unsure.

What can and should, what's one great question, when they go into that pediatrician, instead of following social media and asking questions, I see people on Facebook all the time saying, "Should I get the MMR?

I'm afraid of this, I'm afraid of that vaccine."

One piece of advice that you have for those parents to become informed when they go in to see their pediatrician.

- Well, Mary, I would say safety first and follow the science.

And what's happening now, especially with measles and unvaccinated children is, it's actually dangerous not to get these.

And if you follow the science, which is, let me clarify something.

It's very difficult these days to follow science and what's real and what's not real.

But you have to take a moment.

You either trust, at some point you have to trust the experts, and the scientists, and the health profession, and the countless people that have studied this, but also the advocates like myself who will come out and say emphatically, you need to make sure your child is safe, and getting vaccines are safe.

- I'm curious about this.

How has the confusion on the part of some, and the mixed messages on the part of some credible public officials, how has it impacted your work?

- Greatly.

It's, uh...

I think it's hard enough to have a diagnosis of autism, but to throw on top of that some type of guilt that is not valid, not warranted.

That maybe you did something.

- Maybe a parent did something by vaccinating their kid?

- Yeah, maybe they're the reason why this happened.

I mean, it's actually cruel.

I find it very cruel.

I've had questions posed to me.

Could, could this have been, could it have been?

And you know, I think there's a cruelty to this that we have officials now that are kind of, it's interesting.

They're saying one thing, and they're saying another thing from another side of their mouth.

They're not being clear.

I think they're intentionally being vague because they've said so many other things that the vaccines are an issue.

But when it comes down to it, I think that it's unfortunate that we have officials that are actually saying that.

And I can understand, I could totally understand why parents in the community could be confused.

- Yeah, if government officials, and we don't editorialize or do commentary, at least from this seat, we don't, Mary and I, anyone on our team anchoring our program.

But I will say this, if you say on one hand, you should have your kid get the MMR vaccine, but we need to do more studies to find out.

- Right.

- That is, by any definition, a mixed message.

- Yes.

- That's confusing.

Mary, one more question for Michele.

- Yeah, it's just going back to the elected officials.

What can and should they be doing to, in those moments, when they have that spotlight, use social media to clarify that message?

I feel like most people are just hiding.

They're afraid to put the facts out there, but what message do you have to those elected officials?

- They need to be very clear.

Vaccines do not cause autism.

Say that sentence.

Say it.

- And say nothing after that.

- Nothing.

- No more, we don't need more studies.

- Absolutely not.

- It's so, yeah.

- They need to be clear.

- Yeah.

I'm gonna avoid saying anything else.

I'm gonna leave it at that.

Michele has worked, Michele, just by way of background, so people know, you are not a clinician, but you have been an advocate and engaged in the autism community.

- I have dealt with countless physicians, all types of agencies, all types of medical professionals.

Never ever have I come across, to be honest with you, one, one medical professional that has said that to me.

In fact, they say the complete opposite.

- Michele Adubato, the founder of the Center for Autism, their website, make sure the website's been up the entire program in post-production, but also the CEO of the North Ward Center, an organization our dad founded, Steve Adubato Sr.

Check him out on our "Remember Them" series.

We did a nice half hour on his life and legacy.

And Michele Adubato is living it out every day.

Thank you, Michele.

Mom's gonna be proud of you.

You're supposed to say she's gonna be proud, nevermind.

We'll go on, we'll be right back after this.

- We'll be right back.

(Steve laughs) - [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Hackensack Meridian Health.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

Kean University.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Johnson & Johnson.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Congress Hall.

A Cape Resorts property.

And by NJM Insurance Group.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

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- About a half hour.

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This keeps up, I'm gonna miss my pickleball game.

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