Coronavirus’ greatest ally: the Anti-vaccination phenomenon
If you have looked out of your window in the past year, you’ll have probably noticed that there is a global pandemic happening (and if you didn’t I strongly suggest some more news watching). Through the entirety of 2020, the word coronavirus has been all around our lives. Masks, gloves, social distancing, online school and work, sickened friends or relatives, quarantine. In some way COVID-19 has affected the way society has lived.
But finally, hope. A worldwide scientific effort and cooperation that led to the fastest engineering of vaccines ever to have been developed. After numerous testing stages and clinical trials, these vaccines have proven to be safe and effective, and an enormous scientific achievement. Governments all over the globe made strategic plans for the population’s immunization and life seemed to be in the ways of normalizing itself.
Then the lurking issue arose, one that became object to a great deal of attention. An increasing number of people that believe vaccines to be ineffective, conspiratorial, and at times even sinful. The anti-vax movement stated itself in a world desperately attempting to fight off a pandemic.
In the last decades due to the spread of fake news online, there has been a great propagation of misinformation on social media platforms leading to many unfortunate events such as the Pizzagate’s shooting in Washington D.C. And as a consequence we have been living in a time of fear and growing intolerance worldwide.
The opposition to vaccines is as old as vaccines themselves, but the anti-vax movement perseveres even though scientific data has showed their effectiveness a number of times, other than greatly reducing or eradicating cases of numerous infectious diseases such as Variola (smallpox), Poliomyelitis, Influenza, Hepatitis, Rubella, Measles… the list goes on.
In the United States, the movement gained a great number of followers after the publication of an article by Andrew Wakefield, falsely stating that the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine could predispose to behavioral regression and autism (referred by him as pervasive developmental disorder) in children. The article became popular amongst concerned parents, and even after it was disproven it led to a significant increase in the number of “anti-vaxxers”.
The issue became so rooted in the american society, that even national leaders have expressed their concerns regarding vaccines. Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency several times the term “vaccine safety” was used referring to Wakefield’s disproven article. During the Administration there was also no effort into a national control of the pandemic, the discredit of the use of masks and a strong reluctance in beginning a vaccination campaign. If a misleading scientific article can create such an impact, what could the words of the main representative of a Nation do to people’s concerns?
Other than the mistrust in science or pharmaceutical companies, many reasons are used to refute the necessity of different vaccines. Some believe that since vaccines, such as the Flu have to be taken every year they don’t guarantee effectiveness, therefore shouldn’t be taken. Others avoid taking vaccines believing they could make them sick, which, unless you’re allergic to any of the components in the vaccine, is false. Yes, there are minor side effects such as soreness or swelling where it was applied or a low-grade fever which will go away in a few days. But the dangers of not being vaccinated are even more acute, such as the exposure of children to deadly diseases. According to the World Health Organization — WHO more than 1.5 million people worldwide die from vaccine-preventable diseases each year.
A few discredit the use of vaccines that prevent almost eradicated diseases since these illnesses aren’t seen as a threat, but the truth is that they’ll only stay eradicated as long as they are prevented through vaccination. A great example is the increase of Measles cases in the U.S. According to the CDC — Centers for Disease Control and Preventions, in 2019 the greatest number of cases of Measles was reported in the country since 1992. The CDC stated that the majority of cases were among people who had not been vaccinated against the disease and that it “is more likely to spread and cause outbreaks in communities where groups of people are unvaccinated.”
Since 2019, the WHO added Vaccine Hesitancy to its list of the major Ten Threats to Global Health, stating that “Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease — it currently prevents 2–3 million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved.”
The issue regarding the decrease in vaccination rates is that getting vaccinated is a matter of social responsibility, since your choices affect others. It poses a threat not only to the single individual that chooses not to vaccinate but to society as a whole since the rapid spread and different mutations, such as the COVID’s ones are more likely to happen if there’s no herd immunity.
There’s also an ethical issue involved in scientific practice that should not be disregarded. When developing a vaccine there are many stages involved assuring the highest standards of safety. Questioning the use of these products, means questioning the very core of the pharmaceutical practice, since it means assuming that these scientists are willingly choosing to harm their patients.
To prevent the spread of infectious diseases many countries made certain vaccines mandatory for citizens and travelers, others just made them more accessible. But one of the most crucial measures to prevent diseases from spreading is universalising access to information through national campaigns.
And yes, it might feel scary to look at our medication prescription and not recognise any of the many of the component’s names present in them. But instead of spreading fear over something as well supervised and safe as the vaccines produced by the greatest scientists of our world, we should inform ourselves of the benefits the COVID-19’s vaccines (and all the other ones) are to bring to not only ourselves, but to society as a whole.
Coronavirus wasn’t the only threat to our wellbeing. There was another contagious virus going around, that might make even more victims in the near future. Misinformation is one of the most dangerous menaces in our lives and it is past time we start facing it for what it is.
References
Taylor B, Miller E, Farrington CP, Petropoulos MC, Favot-Mayaud I, Li J, et al. Autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: No epidemiologic evidence for a causal association. Lancet. 1999
Patel M, Lee AD, Redd SB, et al. Increase in Measles Cases — United States, January 1–April 26, 2019. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2019;68:402–404.
Phillip A, Sun LH, Bernstein L. Vaccine skeptic Robert Kennedy Jr. says Trump asked him to lead commission on ‘vaccine safety.’ Washington Post. January 10, 2017:A1.
World Health Organization. Immunization coverage. December 2019.
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Possible Side effects from Vaccines. April 2020
