The Anti-Vaccine Movement

by Hannah Hites

Everyone knows that vaccines save lives and prevent horrible diseases such as smallpox, polio, and so on from making a comeback; at least, I hope they do. Though vaccines do fight against various diseases from reappearing, there is a belief that vaccines can actually do more harm to children than good. It all started in the 1990s when Andrew Wakefield, MD, set out to study if there was a possible link between some vaccines, specifically the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR), and neuropsychiatric diseases, specifically autism in children. After his research, he released a case series study claiming he had found evidence of a connection. Though he wrote in his paper that a causal relationship could not be shown between the MMR vaccination and autism, he released a video saying that the two were related. The damage was done. News outlets and press released these “findings”, and parents everywhere began to believe it. Celebrities endorsed the idea as well which led to an even greater following. Though these claims have since been debunked making this belief extraordinary, there are still those who refuse to vaccinate their children in fear of an autism diagnosis. I don’t think I need to explain the importance of vaccinations when it comes to eradicated, deadly diseases, but there are still people who put the importance of a falsely proven theory above their children’s disease prevention.

Wakefield began to study the possible relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism after a cohort study was released showing that people who had been vaccinated with MMR were more likely to have bowel disease than those who were not. He believed the link could be possible due to the infection from the vaccine virus. Even though he ended up finding no causal relationship between the two, he still suggested a link in a video he released later. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and beliefs, but when something has been tested and not been shown to be true, I don’t think that information should still be spread around as fact. There are plenty of people who believe this information because of pure fear for their children’s psychiatric health and because of their trust in a doctor (Wakefield) to take his word as true.

Those who still believe this could be the result of several different factors. These people have been misinformed because of Wakefield’s video saying there is a link between the two. Even though he stated in his study there was no causal relationship, people are probably more likely to have watched his video thinking there was some groundbreaking and important health research in it. They are also trusting an authority-type person’s word as fact because why shouldn’t they trust a person in their area of expertise? Lastly, fear mongering definitely plays a role in this pseudoscience. Parents will do anything to protect their kids, and if they have any reason to believe that vaccines may cause harm to them or the harm outweighs the benefits, then surely, they won’t utilize them.

Believers of this extraordinary claim come from several different communities. Though it was first thought to be mostly liberals who did not want to vaccinate their children, it has been shown that people from both ends of the political spectrum believe in this. There are also several celebrities who believe and endorse this including Jenny McCarthy, Alicia Silverstone, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just to name a few. They use their fame to help promote their belief in not vaccinating children. Many people buy into this peripheral route of persuasion even though these celebrities have no expertise in medicine. This extraordinary belief has all the typical features of a pseudoscience including having the outward appearance of science and appealing to authority, making it easy for some individuals (especially those who have not been informed of all the facts) to believe.

Vaccines have worked wonders for our society ever since they were discovered many years ago. I can only hope that enough people still see and believe in their good use to help keep eradicated diseases from taking lives once again. People may still believe that vaccines can cause autism in children, but I hope that they would still put value in their children’s safety from potential diseases that could result from not having the proper vaccines. This pseudoscience has been proven to not be true, but fear mongering, celebrity endorsement, and the word of a doctor (Wakefield) will continue allowing people to believe.

Sources:

https://harvardsciencereview.com/2015/03/06/anti-vaccination/

https://nypost.com/2015/02/09/10-anti-vaccine-celebs-that-should-come-with-a-surgeon-generals-warning/

http://theconversation.com/anti-vaccination-beliefs-dont-follow-the-usual-political-polarization-81001

https://www.csicop.org/si/show/anti-vaccination_movement

https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/do-vaccines-cause-autism

13 thoughts on “The Anti-Vaccine Movement

  1. I think its so interesting how Andrew Wakefield was able to was able to get his writings in a scientific journal. Usually, for a scientist it takes time and a lot of peer revision from other scientist to get their articles published. However, with the ongoing theme that if people are desperate enough fro an answer or a reason that things like autism happen then they are willing to not fact check claims.

    • Hey Lauren, I definitely agree with your comment. I think it is so bizzare that his claims were able to be published that is usually not the route scientists take, it is much more extensive. I agree with the fact that people are so desperate to get an answer they are willing to read and believe whatever it is in front of them and it is so sad and counterproductive for society.

    • Hey Lauren,
      This is a good point. I dont understand why Wakefield was published either. It doesnt make sense because peer review is supposed to be one of the best and most safe processes we have in place.
      Charlie

  2. I enjoyed reading this post and found it very informative. This is an extraordinary belief that outrages me because of the amount of harm done in the past and still today. Because of this one study and scientist, many people now think vaccines are harmful and fail to vaccinate their kids. This leads to more harm and more sickness because vaccines actually are beneficial. I think this is a prime example of how the media can take a non-significant and non-causal research finding and twist it so it seems that there is a causal relationship. It is easy for laypeople or those who have not been exposed to research to misinterpret results, which can be detrimental – as shown in this blog post.

    • Hey Jaclyn,
      I liked how you tied this into the media. It wasnt until I matured and became older that I understood the power of the media and how influential it can be. It can, at times, dictate entirely what we believe. This is especially true for extraordinary beliefs and I thought it was a great connection you made.
      Charlie

  3. I had heard of this extraordinary belief a few times but it was nice to get the full story on how it became so popular. I remember reading an article that expressed fear of formerly eradicated diseases making a come back because of the fear surrounding vaccination. Vaccines are so essential to public health and it’s such a shame that there are people refusing to vaccinate their children and thus putting them at risk for some of these terrible diseases.

  4. I really like this topic! This is an extraordinary belief that makes my blood boil. we (americans) live in a country where we are blessed to have access to vaccines and medicine that can help us cure diseases and prevent diseases from spreading. For people to believe that medicine/vaccines are causing more harm than good is a shame. I have a friend whose mother does not believe in vaccination so my friend never got vaccinated. That makes it very hard for traveling around the world, also it is not fair that she is allowed to roam around possibly infecting other people because she does not get vaccines.

  5. The anti-vaccine movement is an extraordinary belief that makes me really angry, actually. Most of these beliefs are silly and harmless but refusing to vaccinate your kids because of misinformation is awful. It’s especially disturbing that people believe vaccinations cause autism especially when the doctor’s research has been debunked and hasn’t shown a causal relationship between the two. People don’t really understand the harm they could be putting other kids through by refusing to vaccinate theirs. It could lead to spread of serious life-threatening diseases, for example.

  6. In my opinion, of all the extraordinary beliefs, this is one is the most dangerous and can cause the most harm. It’s so frustrating that parents will put their children at risk for serious illnesses that they could have prevented simply because they believe one scientific study that didn’t even claim that vaccines caused autism. Not only are they endangering their own children, but they are also endangering other people’s children who do want to vaccinate their kids but can’t because their child isn’t old enough. It’s not fair to those parents that their kids can become sick or even die because someone else refused to get their kids a simple shot that would have prevented it all.

    • i completely agree! this extraordinary belief is extremely dangerous and can really harm people! i think it is messed up that some parents could potentially risk their child getting sick then give up their crazy belief. It is not fair that a child will suffer because of their parents poor and unsafe beliefs.

  7. Hannah,
    Thanks for all of the insights. This belief is extremely bizarre to me. After thinking about it, I do think that it will only diminish over time, and will become less and less popular. The fact that people would not vaccinate someone is astonishing.. I dont think that many people will believe this moving forward, which is a good thing. This is an extraordinary belief that can cause a lot of harm.
    Charlie

  8. Getting vaccinated is something you do for yourself as well as your community. This is a tough conspiracy to deal with because there are so many bogus news stories about the dangers of vaccines. This is one of those situations where the arguments for vaccinations appear to evenly weigh the arguments against it, but this simply isn’t reality. There is zero scientific evidence showing vaccinations to be dangerous in any way. Most people who refuse to vaccinate their children have real legitimate fears of the damage they may cause. If we work to educate these people about the importance of vaccination, and show them that they are not harmful, we will make huge strides fighting this conspiracy.

  9. I know some people personally who refuse to vaccinate their kids. It worries me and makes me sad, because vaccines have become a vital part of being healthy and avoiding diseases that used to wipe out populations. The celebrity endorsements really boosted believers. More people need to know that the relationship is in fact not related, but like you said, the damage has been done. There will be people against vaccines for a while now.

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