There are more vaccines available today to protect people from a multitude of diseases than ever before, but why are some people choosing to not protect themselves? Highly contagious diseases that were thought to have been all but eradicated are making a resurgence. Social media and news outlets have helped spread dangerous misinformation. Vaccinations against preventable diseases should not be open to debate, so vaccinations should be required for everyone.
Vaccines use a weakened or dead version of a disease to create an immune response in the body. The immune system reacts by stopping the pathogen at the point of injection. The body’s natural defenses then create memory cells that circulate through the circulatory system that then recognize and fight that pathogen in the future (Maron 62). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates vaccinations over the last twenty years will prevent more than twenty million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths (Cynthia G. Whitney).
If vaccinations are so effective, then why are some diseases coming back? In 1998, a peer-reviewed medical journal called “The Lancet” published a series of case studies by Andrew Wakefield and twelve colleagues that suggested that vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella may cause developmental and behavioral disorders such as autism (Dr AJ Wakefield 37-641). Multiple studies refuted these findings, and the paper was almost immediately retracted.
Further investigations led to the discovery that the scientists committed fraud when publishing their study. These inquiries showed that among the unethical studies that were conducted, the scientist’s cherry-picked the data that would support their conclusions and falsified many facts. During this time, the fabricated information had already begun to spread and permeate the news and social networks (Vincent Iannelli).
While sensationalized news and talk shows reported the incorrect version of the autism-vaccine link, it was not until the rise of social networking that the false information spread to a broader audience. Celebrities like Bill Maher, Jenny McCarthy, Katie Couric, and politicians like Robert Kennedy, Jr., Mark Green, and Michele Bachman used their followings to communicate their belief in the false findings.
Despite the study’s having already been discredited, social networks such as Facebook allowed people to spread what they perceived as important safety information, but people were instead posting proven falsehoods. Anti-vaccination sentiment now commonly called “anti-vax,” had grown into a movement (Vincent Iannelli). With a growing population of people becoming distrustful of vaccines, anti-vaxxers decided it was safer not to get vaccinated. With an increasing number of people opting out of vaccinations, enough unprotected people would be in the general population to go below the “herd immunity” threshold.
Herd immunity is a term used to describe a condition in which enough people in the general population have been immunized against a disease to make the disease less likely to be passed on to others who are not immune("Vaccines Protect Your Community"). The herd immunity threshold is the percentage level the general population needs to be immunized at to be able to protect from outbreaks and spreading of the disease (Rose). For example, because measles is highly contagious, approximately 95% of the population must be immune to prevent others from getting sick.
In 2010, ten children died from whooping cough in California (Kathleen Winter). In the first half of 2011, the CDC recorded ten measles outbreaks ("Measles Cases and Outbreaks").The largest measles outbreak occurred in Minnesota where of the twenty-one recorded cases, seven infants were infected because they were too young to receive the vaccine. In all of these outbreaks, many children were unvaccinated because the parents were concerned about the safety of the vaccines. The herd immunity threshold had been breached, putting people who were unable to protect themselves at risk.
People are considered at risk when they depend on herd immunity because they are unable to protect themselves from a disease. Some examples are people without a fully functioning immune system, such as patients undergoing chemotherapy, people with HIV, newborns, elderly, and the small percentage of people (one in every million) that have adverse reactions to a vaccine. When people make a conscious decision not to receive a vaccination, they put the unprotected population at higher risk.
The United States has seen a surge in cases of whooping cough, measles, mumps, and other vaccine-preventable diseases. For instance, in the year 2000, measles was declared eradicated. However, in 2004, thirty-seven measles cases were reported. Since 2004, there have been a relatively steady pattern of measles outbreaks, the highest number of outbreaks recorded so far was 667 cases in 2014 with 2019 already having reported 387 cases by March 28th ("Measles Cases and Outbreaks"). Though some of the infections were explained by waning immunity over time, the reduction of vaccine-derived protection was determined to be the leading cause of the outbreaks (Liz Meszaros).
One of twenty healthy children who contract measles will also come down with pneumonia. One of every 1000 children infected will also suffer from inflammation of the brain that may lead to convulsions and mental retardation and one to two of those thousand children will die. Comparatively, chickenpox may often lead to severe infections of the skin, brain swelling, and pneumonia. Even without complications, chicken pox is painful, causes high fevers and causes itchy rashes. People who have been vaccinated against these diseases still have a small chance of catching them but typically suffer milder symptoms with a reduced period of illness (Matthew F. Daley 59).
Sensationalized news reports, politicians, celebrities and social media may be responsible for disseminating misinformation on vaccines, but why are people still choosing to believe what is now widely known to be incorrect? When the initial information regarding vaccines causing autism spread, many peoples fear of the consequences of vaccinating their children led them to a decision not to vaccinate them at all. This simple action helped reinforce their belief that vaccines may be harmful.
The problem with this false belief is that the longer people hold this belief, the harder it is for them to confront contrary evidence and often reframe the issue in an untestable way. Some common anti-vax retorts include: “It’s my right as a parent to decide how I want to treat the health of my child.” or “I believe a person’s individual rights are more important than being forced to get a shot.” This type of reply allows people to make essential facts irrelevant to the central issue (Troy Campbell 22). More importantly, anti-vaxxers have found a loophole in medical ethics.
Though a medical professional is ethically bound never to harm a patient and must always take affirmative steps to prevent harm to a patient (Beauchamp 43), medical ethics respect for autonomy allows patients to make their own decisions when it comes to their health care (Beauchamp 45-46). When people decide not to vaccinate, the medical profession is duty bound to allow them to remain unvaccinated. When the decision to not vaccinate is non-medical, can the government force people to vaccinate?
The United States allows individual states to regulate vaccinations. In 1809, Massachusetts was the first to make vaccinations compulsory. States arguing against vaccinations asserted that it violated personal freedom which overrode the public good. In 1905 the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Jacobson v. Massachusetts decided that the public good overrode personal freedom ("Jacobson V. Massachusetts"). This law means that states have the rights to make laws that force people to vaccinate. All states now require a certain number of vaccinations for any students to attend school.
Although all states allow for a medical exemption from vaccinations with proper documentation, almost all states also allow for a religious exemption, and some even for a philosophical exemption. These exemptions allow antivaxxers to get around the laws and with web sites like nvic.org, they can research the best way to avoid them.
In 2019, the World Health Organization listed “vaccine hesitancy” as one of the top ten threats to global health ("Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019"). The reluctance or decision to not vaccinate threatens to reverse progress made in stopping vaccine-preventable diseases. The W.H.O lists that vaccine-preventable diseases are up worldwide by 30% and attributes vaccine hesitancy as a significant factor. Despite these dire warnings, we are currently seeing some positive developments.
Facebook, a leader in online social networking, is considering removing anti-vaccine content. Robert DeNiro refused to allow his film festival to show what has been described as an anti-vaxxer propaganda movie, “Vaxxed.” Washington state, like California, passed a law in February to ban personal and philosophical exemptions.
Public health officials, academics, clinicians and parents have been speaking up via radio, TV and the internet to inform the public about the science of vaccines. Viruses themselves have had an influence on parents speaking out after their children have contracted a disease. If we can keep moving ahead with vaccinations, then we may go back to the time where people forgot that vaccine-preventable diseases were harmful.
Works Cited
"Jacobson V. Massachusetts." 197 U.S. 11: Library of Congress, 1905. Print.
"Measles Cases and Outbreaks." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2019. Web. March 7, 2019.
"Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019." World Health Organization. Web2019.
"Vaccines Protect Your Community." U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web. December 2017.
Beauchamp, J. Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.
Cynthia G. Whitney, and others. "Benefits from Immunization During the Vaccines for Children Program Era — United States, 1994-2013, Mmwr." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2014. Web. April 25, 2014 2014.
Dr AJ Wakefield, FRCS and others. "Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia, Non-Specific Colitis, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder in Children." Lancet.351 (1998): 37-641. Print.
Kathleen Winter, MPH, and others. "Pertussis Epidemic — California, 2014." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2014. Web. Dedcember 5, 2014.
Liz Meszaros, MD. "Deadly Disease Resurgence: Outbreaks Linked to Waning Vaccine Protection." MDLinx Internal Medicine 2018. Web. October 23, 2018.
Maron, Dina Fine. "Fact or Fiction?: Vaccines Are Dangerous." Scientific American December 2017 2017: 61-63. Print.
Matthew F. Daley, Jason M. Glanz. "Straight Talk About Vaccination." Scientific American December 2017 2017: 58-59. Print.
Rose, Jim. "The Simple Math of Herd Immunity." 2015. Web. April 20, 2015.
Troy Campbell, Justin Friesen. "Why People “Fly from Facts”." Scientific American December 2017 2017: 22-23. Print.
Vincent Iannelli, MD. "Anti-Vaccine Movement Timeline and History." 2017. Web. August 2017.
Vaccines use a weakened or dead version of a disease to create an immune response in the body. The immune system reacts by stopping the pathogen at the point of injection. The body’s natural defenses then create memory cells that circulate through the circulatory system that then recognize and fight that pathogen in the future (Maron 62). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates vaccinations over the last twenty years will prevent more than twenty million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths (Cynthia G. Whitney).
If vaccinations are so effective, then why are some diseases coming back? In 1998, a peer-reviewed medical journal called “The Lancet” published a series of case studies by Andrew Wakefield and twelve colleagues that suggested that vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella may cause developmental and behavioral disorders such as autism (Dr AJ Wakefield 37-641). Multiple studies refuted these findings, and the paper was almost immediately retracted.
Further investigations led to the discovery that the scientists committed fraud when publishing their study. These inquiries showed that among the unethical studies that were conducted, the scientist’s cherry-picked the data that would support their conclusions and falsified many facts. During this time, the fabricated information had already begun to spread and permeate the news and social networks (Vincent Iannelli).
While sensationalized news and talk shows reported the incorrect version of the autism-vaccine link, it was not until the rise of social networking that the false information spread to a broader audience. Celebrities like Bill Maher, Jenny McCarthy, Katie Couric, and politicians like Robert Kennedy, Jr., Mark Green, and Michele Bachman used their followings to communicate their belief in the false findings.
Despite the study’s having already been discredited, social networks such as Facebook allowed people to spread what they perceived as important safety information, but people were instead posting proven falsehoods. Anti-vaccination sentiment now commonly called “anti-vax,” had grown into a movement (Vincent Iannelli). With a growing population of people becoming distrustful of vaccines, anti-vaxxers decided it was safer not to get vaccinated. With an increasing number of people opting out of vaccinations, enough unprotected people would be in the general population to go below the “herd immunity” threshold.
Herd immunity is a term used to describe a condition in which enough people in the general population have been immunized against a disease to make the disease less likely to be passed on to others who are not immune("Vaccines Protect Your Community"). The herd immunity threshold is the percentage level the general population needs to be immunized at to be able to protect from outbreaks and spreading of the disease (Rose). For example, because measles is highly contagious, approximately 95% of the population must be immune to prevent others from getting sick.
In 2010, ten children died from whooping cough in California (Kathleen Winter). In the first half of 2011, the CDC recorded ten measles outbreaks ("Measles Cases and Outbreaks").The largest measles outbreak occurred in Minnesota where of the twenty-one recorded cases, seven infants were infected because they were too young to receive the vaccine. In all of these outbreaks, many children were unvaccinated because the parents were concerned about the safety of the vaccines. The herd immunity threshold had been breached, putting people who were unable to protect themselves at risk.
People are considered at risk when they depend on herd immunity because they are unable to protect themselves from a disease. Some examples are people without a fully functioning immune system, such as patients undergoing chemotherapy, people with HIV, newborns, elderly, and the small percentage of people (one in every million) that have adverse reactions to a vaccine. When people make a conscious decision not to receive a vaccination, they put the unprotected population at higher risk.
The United States has seen a surge in cases of whooping cough, measles, mumps, and other vaccine-preventable diseases. For instance, in the year 2000, measles was declared eradicated. However, in 2004, thirty-seven measles cases were reported. Since 2004, there have been a relatively steady pattern of measles outbreaks, the highest number of outbreaks recorded so far was 667 cases in 2014 with 2019 already having reported 387 cases by March 28th ("Measles Cases and Outbreaks"). Though some of the infections were explained by waning immunity over time, the reduction of vaccine-derived protection was determined to be the leading cause of the outbreaks (Liz Meszaros).
One of twenty healthy children who contract measles will also come down with pneumonia. One of every 1000 children infected will also suffer from inflammation of the brain that may lead to convulsions and mental retardation and one to two of those thousand children will die. Comparatively, chickenpox may often lead to severe infections of the skin, brain swelling, and pneumonia. Even without complications, chicken pox is painful, causes high fevers and causes itchy rashes. People who have been vaccinated against these diseases still have a small chance of catching them but typically suffer milder symptoms with a reduced period of illness (Matthew F. Daley 59).
Sensationalized news reports, politicians, celebrities and social media may be responsible for disseminating misinformation on vaccines, but why are people still choosing to believe what is now widely known to be incorrect? When the initial information regarding vaccines causing autism spread, many peoples fear of the consequences of vaccinating their children led them to a decision not to vaccinate them at all. This simple action helped reinforce their belief that vaccines may be harmful.
The problem with this false belief is that the longer people hold this belief, the harder it is for them to confront contrary evidence and often reframe the issue in an untestable way. Some common anti-vax retorts include: “It’s my right as a parent to decide how I want to treat the health of my child.” or “I believe a person’s individual rights are more important than being forced to get a shot.” This type of reply allows people to make essential facts irrelevant to the central issue (Troy Campbell 22). More importantly, anti-vaxxers have found a loophole in medical ethics.
Though a medical professional is ethically bound never to harm a patient and must always take affirmative steps to prevent harm to a patient (Beauchamp 43), medical ethics respect for autonomy allows patients to make their own decisions when it comes to their health care (Beauchamp 45-46). When people decide not to vaccinate, the medical profession is duty bound to allow them to remain unvaccinated. When the decision to not vaccinate is non-medical, can the government force people to vaccinate?
The United States allows individual states to regulate vaccinations. In 1809, Massachusetts was the first to make vaccinations compulsory. States arguing against vaccinations asserted that it violated personal freedom which overrode the public good. In 1905 the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Jacobson v. Massachusetts decided that the public good overrode personal freedom ("Jacobson V. Massachusetts"). This law means that states have the rights to make laws that force people to vaccinate. All states now require a certain number of vaccinations for any students to attend school.
Although all states allow for a medical exemption from vaccinations with proper documentation, almost all states also allow for a religious exemption, and some even for a philosophical exemption. These exemptions allow antivaxxers to get around the laws and with web sites like nvic.org, they can research the best way to avoid them.
In 2019, the World Health Organization listed “vaccine hesitancy” as one of the top ten threats to global health ("Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019"). The reluctance or decision to not vaccinate threatens to reverse progress made in stopping vaccine-preventable diseases. The W.H.O lists that vaccine-preventable diseases are up worldwide by 30% and attributes vaccine hesitancy as a significant factor. Despite these dire warnings, we are currently seeing some positive developments.
Facebook, a leader in online social networking, is considering removing anti-vaccine content. Robert DeNiro refused to allow his film festival to show what has been described as an anti-vaxxer propaganda movie, “Vaxxed.” Washington state, like California, passed a law in February to ban personal and philosophical exemptions.
Public health officials, academics, clinicians and parents have been speaking up via radio, TV and the internet to inform the public about the science of vaccines. Viruses themselves have had an influence on parents speaking out after their children have contracted a disease. If we can keep moving ahead with vaccinations, then we may go back to the time where people forgot that vaccine-preventable diseases were harmful.
Works Cited
"Jacobson V. Massachusetts." 197 U.S. 11: Library of Congress, 1905. Print.
"Measles Cases and Outbreaks." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2019. Web. March 7, 2019.
"Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019." World Health Organization. Web2019.
"Vaccines Protect Your Community." U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web. December 2017.
Beauchamp, J. Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.
Cynthia G. Whitney, and others. "Benefits from Immunization During the Vaccines for Children Program Era — United States, 1994-2013, Mmwr." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2014. Web. April 25, 2014 2014.
Dr AJ Wakefield, FRCS and others. "Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia, Non-Specific Colitis, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder in Children." Lancet.351 (1998): 37-641. Print.
Kathleen Winter, MPH, and others. "Pertussis Epidemic — California, 2014." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2014. Web. Dedcember 5, 2014.
Liz Meszaros, MD. "Deadly Disease Resurgence: Outbreaks Linked to Waning Vaccine Protection." MDLinx Internal Medicine 2018. Web. October 23, 2018.
Maron, Dina Fine. "Fact or Fiction?: Vaccines Are Dangerous." Scientific American December 2017 2017: 61-63. Print.
Matthew F. Daley, Jason M. Glanz. "Straight Talk About Vaccination." Scientific American December 2017 2017: 58-59. Print.
Rose, Jim. "The Simple Math of Herd Immunity." 2015. Web. April 20, 2015.
Troy Campbell, Justin Friesen. "Why People “Fly from Facts”." Scientific American December 2017 2017: 22-23. Print.
Vincent Iannelli, MD. "Anti-Vaccine Movement Timeline and History." 2017. Web. August 2017.