The anti-vaccine movement is becoming more popular every day. What are the outcomes of such a movement on the health and economy of a country and what must we learn about it to arm ourselves against it?
As a mother, the more I read about the anti-vaccine movement the more concerned I become. There are a lot of forces at work to push this movement forward. Information is used that lacks scientific merit but has just the right amount of medical terminologies and figures to convince skeptical parents. Studies used to justify refusing vaccines are intentionally written in a way that is easy for a person with no medical background to follow. Doctors and specialists are being overshadowed by celebrities, social media influencers, and herbal healers that are helping push the anti-vaccine rhetoric forward with half-truths and evidence that hasn’t been thoroughly checked and tested.
According to the WHO (World Health Organization), in 2019 the increase of measles outbreaks has climbed 300%. Spread across developing and developed countries that should have been eradicated from measles by now. It is a severe disease that can lead to lifelong disability and even brain damage. It is also a highly contagious disease, so it takes only a few vulnerable people to cause an outbreak. The WHO believes this spike has been caused by the increase in vaccine refusal and have added the anti-vaccine movement to the ten threats to global health.
The most prominent trigger for the spread of this movement is a study published in 1998 by a former British doctor and researcher called Andrew Wakefield. He claimed that there was a connection between the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine and autism in children. Specialists in the field rushed to test his results and found flaws in his methods and his findings. His paper was retracted soon after and his medical license was revoked by the British government for abuse of his position and providing falsified information. Since then specialists and experienced doctors have conducted extensive research on the effects of vaccines and have always come to the same conclusion; vaccines have no direct relation to autism in children and do not cause adverse reactions to the majority of children.
On the one hand, the process to determine threats in medicine is rigorous and requires continuous follow-up studies. Every year new information is provided supporting the safety of vaccines. On the other hand, the anti-vaccine “studies” are recycling the same information, basing their findings on misguiding statistics and sharing selective information that support their argument.
Many parents are using what they understand from Wakefield’s medically disregarded claim to support their decision not to vaccinate their children or are using it as a starting point to find other reasons to support their decision. Whether it’s vaccine side effects, the substances they contain, or deciding natural immunization is stronger, none of these reasons outweigh the statistics of how many lives vaccines save as opposed to the one in a million chance of an allergic reaction or death because of vaccination.
The reality is that refusing vaccines is a privilege. Communities that have been safe from disease and death for a few decades have forgotten that the reason they got there was because of vaccines. Choosing to opt-out of vaccinating your child means that babies too young for vaccines, the elderly that missed their vaccine window and people that don’t have the means for vaccines are all at risk. Science has proved that the decision to not vaccinate your child is very dangerous and is much more than a personal parenting decision.
The US government and several European countries that are experiencing outbreaks are now forcing fines on parents that are refusing to get the MMR vaccine. In the UAE, refusing vaccines for your child is a crime punishable by law. Under the Wadeema law for child rights, all children have a right to vaccinations and failure to do so is considered child endangerment.
The aim of governments enforcing these laws and fines is to ensure the safety of the general public and to spare the loss of precious time and money that could be dedicated to more pressing diseases. Millions of dollars are spent on resources from hospital beds to medication in the process of treating those infected by measles. Government and private hospitals are doing what they can to contain a disease that sadly should no longer be an issue. Unfortunately, anti-vaxxers see these laws and regulations as a form of control and not as a form of protection and service to the public.
It’s this line of thinking that categorizes the anti-vaccine movement as a conspiracy theory. At the root of this movement, like most conspiracy theories, is the idea that there is a hidden plot to harm human life. Despite all the credible scientists and doctors that have proved that the threat associated with vaccines is false, anti-vaxxers still believe there are hidden dangers only they see and only they have the intellectual capacity to understand.
The side effects of vaccines are extremely rare, circumstantial and mostly hypothetical. The outcomes of measles are definitively probable, tangible, deadly, and are happening. The time has come for us to truly realize the threat that anti-vaccine movements are causing and not underestimate the ripple effect one decision can make. We shouldn’t settle for half-truths and make decisions without genuinely weighing out all the reliable information. We need to make our choices with full clarity of the consequences and without the illusion that our children are the exception and are better off without vaccines.
I know that for many anti-vaxxers they believe their truth and have no intention of seeing otherwise. The same might be said by them about the opposition. However, if you study the evidence, check and recheck and triple check your sources, go beyond a discredited doctor telling you vaccines are bad for your child and understand the science behind it, you will realize what side of history you don’t want to be on.
I want a better future for our children. One where disease and death are not taken so lightly.
References
College of Physicians Of Philadelphia. (2018, January 10). History of Anti-Vaccination Movements. Retrieved from History of Vaccines: https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/
articles/history-anti-vaccination-movements
DPA/The Local. (2019, March 25). German Parliament to Consider Compulsory Vaccination Laws. Retrieved from The Local De: https://www.thelocal.de/20190325/
german-parliament-to-consider-
compulsory-vaccination-laws
Jr., D. G. (2019, April 9 ). New York City Is Requiring Vaccinations Against Measles. Can Officials Do That? Retrieved from New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/
04/09/health/measles-outbreak-
vaccinations-brooklyn.html
Najera, R. F. (2019, March 21). Study: “Belief in Conspiracy Theories Associated with Vaccine Skepticism”. Retrieved from History of vaccines: https://www.historyofvaccines.org/
content/blog/apa-conspiracy-study
UAE Government. (2016, March 8). Federal Law No.3 Wadeema’s Law for Child Rights. Retrieved from Government.ae: https://www.khda.gov.ae/CMS/WebParts/
TextEditor/Documents/Children_Law_English.pdf
World Health Organization. (2019). New measles surveillance data for 2019. Retrieved from World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/immunization/
newsroom/measles-data-2019/en/
World Health Organization. (2019). Ten Threats to Global Health. Retrieved from World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/emergencies/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019
