Anti Vaccination Movement Analysis
The anti-vaccination movement has been circulating the world since 1830, Ellen Tolsma states, beginning with Hazen v. Strong, the first anti-vaccination court case (“Protecting our herd…”). The controversy has since landed hard in the United States due to its structure around widespread acceptance of religion, culture, and most all other beliefs. In attempt to withhold the melting pot that is America, the Center for American Progress reports that state governments have created “lax exemption procedures,” meaning that state policies for vaccine exemptions are so lenient that they allow most nonmedical exemptions to pass through the system with ease (Lee). Given this, lax systems are the main pieces of the puzzle that is diminishing herd immunity.
…show more content…
In “The Anti-Vaccination Movement,” Steven Novella introduces a group that follows a study conducted in 1998 by researcher Andrew Wakefield, in which he claimed there to be “a connection between the MMR [(mumps-measles-rubella)] vaccine and autism” (qtd. in CSI). Although Wakefield’s theory has been proven wrong by further studying, some of today’s American population still swears by his study and choose to opt out of the MMR vaccine. According to Novella, another myth fooling the United States is that vaccines contain thimerosal, “a mercury-based preservative found in some childhood vaccines” (“The Anti-Vaccination Movement”). Thimerosal is indeed toxic to the body, but, as Novella expands, “toxicity is always a matter of dose,” meaning the dosage of thimerosal in vaccines would never be large enough to cause bodily harm (“The Anti-Vaccination Movement”). While this is true, many still believe immunizations will poison them, therefore they file an exemption. Moreover, vaccines’ reputation has earned itself an overall negative public view. The World Health Organization found that searching “vaccine risks” online produces many times more results than when “vaccine benefits” is searched; rumored risks being another reason for individuals to file nonmedical vaccine exemptions (“Vaccination greatly reduces disease…”). All in all, the extent to which Americans have brought their beliefs is beyond extreme. Such a broad spectrum of doubts is leading to large-scale nonmedical exemption rates and rapidly declining herd immunity
In “The Anti-Vaccination Movement,” Steven Novella introduces a group that follows a study conducted in 1998 by researcher Andrew Wakefield, in which he claimed there to be “a connection between the MMR [(mumps-measles-rubella)] vaccine and autism” (qtd. in CSI). Although Wakefield’s theory has been proven wrong by further studying, some of today’s American population still swears by his study and choose to opt out of the MMR vaccine. According to Novella, another myth fooling the United States is that vaccines contain thimerosal, “a mercury-based preservative found in some childhood vaccines” (“The Anti-Vaccination Movement”). Thimerosal is indeed toxic to the body, but, as Novella expands, “toxicity is always a matter of dose,” meaning the dosage of thimerosal in vaccines would never be large enough to cause bodily harm (“The Anti-Vaccination Movement”). While this is true, many still believe immunizations will poison them, therefore they file an exemption. Moreover, vaccines’ reputation has earned itself an overall negative public view. The World Health Organization found that searching “vaccine risks” online produces many times more results than when “vaccine benefits” is searched; rumored risks being another reason for individuals to file nonmedical vaccine exemptions (“Vaccination greatly reduces disease…”). All in all, the extent to which Americans have brought their beliefs is beyond extreme. Such a broad spectrum of doubts is leading to large-scale nonmedical exemption rates and rapidly declining herd immunity