Why Anti-Vax Propaganda Can Be So Appealing
With multiple coronavirus vaccines on the horizon, and with many more being developed, the next hurdle is implementing one of the largest vaccination programs in modern American history.
But if history is any indicator, every vaccination program meets resistance from anti-vaxxers — people who believe that vaccines don’t work or cause a wide variety of ailments. These falsehoods are damaging to society and to the science behind vaccine research and development. Anti-vaxxers have this almost cult-like mindset and utilize social media to ensnare others.
In my debut book, Necessary Symbiosis: What Happens When Science and Government Work Together (and When They Don’t), I explore the history of anti-vaccination sentiments and how the movement has grown to weaponize social media to promote their false propaganda.
Below is an excerpt from my fourth chapter (formatted for Medium). Enjoy!
Vaccines are extremely important because they help eradicate easily communicable diseases. Because of the work of many scientists, diseases like smallpox, tuberculosis, cholera, measles, rubella, whooping cough, and polio are eradicable. Along with advances in medicine and technology, vaccines have helped increase the human lifespan from about 30 years to over 70 years.(1)
Vaccines are not just protecting those who receive them, but also those who may not be able to be vaccinated (immunocompromised individuals, people allergic to the vaccine, etc.) through the means of herd immunity.(2) Herd immunity refers to the moment when there are enough vaccinated people within a community to protect those who cannot get the vaccine, like those allergic to certain components, those who lack medical access or insurance, or those who have weak immune systems.(3)
As governments push for vaccinations, there has always been some level of pushback by certain groups within society. This fear of vaccines started in the 1700s and 1800s when vaccines were starting to be developed for mass immunization programs; many religious leaders called them the “devil’s work” and promoted the right to remain as pure as possible without injecting foreign bodies into individuals. They believed the government was overstepping their boundaries and “invading” the rights of individuals.(4)
In England, when the Vaccination Act passed in 1853, it mandated that infants up to three months should be vaccinated against smallpox. Almost 15 years later, the Act of 1867 pushed that age requirement up to 14 years old, with an added penalty if the child is not vaccinated.(5) That kind of government enforcement irked certain individuals, causing them to band together and create the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League and the Anti Vaccination League. They demanded the right to control their own bodies and those of their children.(6)
That kind of opposition resulted in a demonstration with 80 to 100 thousand anti-vaccination people, aka anti-vaxxers, marching against the government mandate. In the 1890s, the large number of protesters against vaccinations pushed the government into a study of the efficacy and safety of the smallpox vaccine, which found that it was safe but there shouldn’t be a penalty if individuals or their children are not vaccinated. That mandate was lifted in the Act of 1898, which included a provision so that parents who did not believe in the safety and efficacy of the smallpox vaccine did not have to take it.(7)
Around the same time in the US, as smallpox was spreading, there was an effort to get as many people vaccinated as possible. But, like in England, there was some pushback. Founded in 1879, the Anti Vaccination Society of America became the basis for all anti-vaccine movements in the US. It was created after a leading British anti-vaxxer, William Tebb, visited the US. Two other leagues were created afterward, the New England Anti Compulsory Vaccination League in 1882 and the Anti-vaccination League of New York City in 1885. They all waged war against vaccines in courts, trying to repeal vaccination laws in California, Illinois, and Wisconsin.(8) But when an outbreak happened around 1900 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the city mandated that everyone should be vaccinated.
In 1905, one resident, Henning Jacobson, refused to do so, stating that he knew how to take care of his body the best. Following a legal battle that went all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), Jacobson lost. The court used both the social-compact theory and the theory of limited government in the majority opinion. Essentially, the majority opinion accepted the argument that it’s up to the state to decide in matters of public health. But there were four main standards by which the court accepted that:— the necessity for such measures,
— the reasonable means by which the measures are implemented,
— the proportionality of the measures so the state doesn’t overreact to a small problem, and
— harm avoidance to protect the general public health.
These four standards required governmental processes to deliberately safeguard individual liberties while allowing states to intervene for public health purposes. This is the first instance of SCOTUS deciding a case on the extent of a state’s power when dealing with public health issue; however, it is the only case directly addressing a state’s power in creating vaccination requirements.(9)
Over the next weeks, I’ll be sharing excerpts and stories from my book, Necessary Symbiosis, in this article series. My book Necessary Symbiosis: What Happens When Science and Government Work Together (and When They Don’t) is available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PW4XP38. If you want to connect, find me on Twitter (@KarraVyshnavi), Instagram (@karravyshnavi, @necessarysymbiosis), and at www.vyshnavikarra.com.
(1) Max Roser et al., “Life Expectancy,” Our World in Data, (2013).
(2) Olivia Benecke and Sarah Elizabeth DeYoung, “Anti-Vaccine Decision-Making and Measles Resurgence in the United States,” Global Pediatric Health 6 (July 2019): 2333794X19862949.
(3) H. Cody Messiner, “Why is herd immunity so important?,” AAP News 36, no. 5 (May 2015): 14.
(4) Azhar Hussain et al., “The Anti-vaccination Movement: A Regression in Modern Medicine,” Cureus 10, no. 7 (July 2018):e2919; Olivia Benecke and Sarah Elizabeth DeYoung, “Anti-Vaccine Decision-Making and Measles Resurgence in the United States,” Global Pediatric Health 6 (July 2019): 2333794X19862949.
(5) Azhar Hussain et al., “The Anti-vaccination Movement: A Regression in Modern Medicine,” Cureus 10, no. 7 (July 2018):e2919.
(6) Azhar Hussain et al., “The Anti-vaccination Movement: A Regression in Modern Medicine,” Cureus 10, no. 7 (July 2018):e2919; History of Vaccines, “History of Anti-vaccination Movements,” accessed April 2020.
(7) Azhar Hussain et al., “The Anti-vaccination Movement: A Regression in Modern Medicine,” Cureus 10, no. 7 (July 2018):e2919; History of Vaccines, “History of Anti-vaccination Movements,” accessed April 2020.
(8) History of Vaccines, “History of Anti-vaccination Movements,” accessed April 2020.
(9) Ibid.
