Anti Vaxxers: Are They a Threat to Society?

By: Vaishali Ojha

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? This is a question that has been posed increasingly in the U.S. over the past 20 years due to rising concerns in the safety of vaccines. People against vaccines, or anti-vaxxers, refuse to vaccinate their children for various reasons involving the safety of their children, or sometimes religious purposes. However, the benefits of vaccinology clearly far outweigh the negatives that anti-vaxxers claim vaccines bring to the table. Vaccines have been instrumental in the successful eradication of deadly diseases, and the negatives of vaccines are near inconsequential when compared to these positives. The misinformation spread about the cons of vaccinating has done a disservice to one of humanity’s greatest helpers.

To truly understand the nature of the vaccine debate, we have to start with what a vaccine actually is. The idea is simple enough: administer a weak or inactive form of a pathogen in order to build up the organism’s immunity against that pathogen. The body detects the harmless form of the disease and is able to generate immune cells to protect itself in case it comes into contact with an active or living version of the disease. In other words, fight fire with fire. This ensures that the body is able to prevent having the disease, and the benefits speak for themselves.

Vaccines were originally invented for smallpox, and after less than 200 years after its conception, the disease was announced as eradicated by the World Health Organization in 1980 worldwide. The U.S. has been polio-free for over 30 years as well, and the number of cases for other diseases, such as hepatitis A, HIV, mumps, and whooping cough have exponentially decreased with the development of their respective vaccines.

However, despite all of the breakthroughs made with the existence of vaccines, the number of anti-vaxxers are still growing steadily, and with them, the number archaic, near-forgotten cases of diseases. There were only 63 cases of measles in the U.S. in 2010. Less than ten years later in 2019, there were 1,282 cases of measles, with 73% of them occurring in those that hadn’t been vaccinated. If anti-vaxxers had not promoted misinformation about vaccines, measles would likely be an eradicated disease today in the U.S. A long-forgotten dream, rather than a rising threat today.

One of the reasons anti-vaxxers are increasing in number is due to the supposed link between autism and vaccination. The infamous article by Dr. Wakefield, which is frequently cited by anti-vaxxers as proof of causation between the MMR vaccine and autism, originally started the vaccine debate. The article has been disproven thoroughly and Dr. Wakefield has since lost his medical license; however, he is still quoted to this day by anti-vaxxers as proof of a negative effect produced by vaccinating your children. These claims display the damage the spread of false information has done to vaccines’ reputation and the general health of the public. Despite the remarkable benefits of vaccines, people are commonly scared to vaccinate their children because they have the false association of vaccines and the development of autism.

Talking about the genuine negative consequences of vaccinating, there are sometimes side effects of vaccines. However, most of these are fairly harmless, such as swelling, headaches, and chills, and tend to pass in a few days. Certainly, these side effects are unimportant when compared to the life-threatening diseases that may be contracted if you forgo the vaccine. However, there are a few serious side effects that occur, like seizures, but they are very rare. For the very few people this affects, it is a real reason to avoid vaccines. For these people, herd immunity will end up mostly protecting them from the disease they are vaccinated to prevent. Herd immunity occurs when the vast majority of a population is vaccinated, therefore keeping the disease from spreading to those that aren’t. So to be an anti-vaxxer when you have a child who needs this herd immunity is illogical. How can you be against the very thing that will keep your child safe? It’s as if my child had a nut allergy, so I decided that all nuts are bad, and I suddenly needed to go on an anti-nut campaign. It is still important for everyone else to remain vaccinated, even more so, as it can compromise the safety of your child, and other children that need vaccinations to stay safe.

In conclusion, the Anti-Vaccination Movement is an endangerment to public safety through their refusal to vaccinate. Yes, certain people cannot vaccinate due to serious allergic reactions; however, the people unable to be vaccinated should not discourage vaccination, but rather encourage it, as it is imperative for the safety of these people that the vast majority of us do our part and vaccinate ourselves and our children. And the claims that vaccines cause autism has not been factually proven by a medical professional. Vaccination is only as successful as we enable it to be, and in our hands, can end life-threatening diseases. Case numbers that are climbing due to anti-vaxxers with most diseases still only average around the hundreds. Coronavirus’s numbers are within the millions. Right now, it is more important than ever to be conscious in our role as either one of the very, very few who cannot be vaccinated, but still are supportive of the vaccine, or one of the majority that vaccinates and keeps diseases from claiming another life.

Edited by: Khushi Patel and Austen Wyche

Posted June 24, 2020

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