Anti-Vaccination Movement

Vaccination skeptics have stated that the U.S Government is working with pharmaceutical companies in order to stop them. The government is also hiding the truth on how vaccinations kill hundreds of infants every year.

Background

Vaccinations are one of the most important measures of preventing the spread the communicable diseases and infections. They have contributed in the reducing the spread of common childhood diseases, some of which have been completely eradicated like Smallpox and Rinderpest. Vaccinations have also helped in nearly eradicating Polio and Malaria.

The anti-vaccination movement has existed ever since the introduction of vaccinations. The opposition to vaccinations goes back to the 18th Century when priests referred to them as “diabolical operations” as they believed that sickness was God’s way of punishing man for his sins. People still reject vaccinations due to personal, religious or secular beliefs.

The Anti-Vaccination League was setup in London during the mid-19th century when Britain passed a bill which mandated the vaccinations of all children. The league’s mission was to protect the liberties of the people which was being invaded by the Parliament’s vaccination laws. The pressure applied by the league eventually caused the Government to pass another bill in 1898 to exempt parents from getting their children vaccinated if they believed vaccines weren’t beneficial.

There has been an increase in the number of anti-vaccination followers who believe that vaccinations are causing more harm than benefits to children receiving them. This is due to the false evidence that people believe on the internet.

Analysis

The widespread increase in the anti-vaccination movement has caused for the drop in immunization among children. The movement causes for the reduction of herd immunity which refers to the immunity of a particular city or area.

With the increase in Global communities, the traversal of pathogens can happen more easily than it used to. Vaccinations are a cure that could help prevent rapidly spreading diseases by building disease resistance. Highly contagious diseases like malaria need a vaccination percentage of 93% to 96% in order to maintain herd immunity.

The World Health Organization has called the Anti-Vaccination movement a top 10 health threat, owing to the fact that there has been 30% increase in measles cases worldwide, including countries where the virus had been virtually eliminated.

The anti-vaccination movement was most recently reinvigorated when Andrew Wakefield published a report in 1998on The Lancet claiming that there was a link between the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and autism in children. Wakefield drew severe criticism for his flawed study and lost his license as a practitioner due to his unethical research methods.

Although the journal was retracted, the myth had spread to other parts of the world. There was drop in the number of children receiving the MMR vaccine causing for multiple outbreaks in Western countries.

Most Anti-Vaccination movements are focused on urban areas, being highly populated, causing for a major drop in immunization. The recent Measles outbreak in America can also be attributed to the Anti-Vaccination movement in Washington.

Counterpoint

The business of manufacturing vaccines has turned out to be extremely lucrative in recent times. This has made many pharmaceutical companies cut corners during the Research and Development of new drugs and vaccinations. Vaccines that aren’t ready to be used have been tested out on infants and children causing fatalities that have infuriated many parents.

Health care providers are morally obligated to treat everyone with non-maleficence and to ensure no harm is done to the society. Moral obligations aside, these providers sometimes use unethical practices to purchase vaccines that lead to the use of low quality products.

Assessment

Our assessment is that mandated vaccination programs could lead to the increase in the head immunity. Anti-vaccination movements pose a dire threat to a human’s health. However, the government must ensure that the wrongful evidence about vaccinations in social media and the internet must be curbed. 

Image Courtesy:  melvil, Act-HIb, CC BY-SA 4.0