Why the Anti-Vax trend is a plague

Living in the 21st Century has its perks. One of those perks are not having to worry about life threatening diseases like measles, mumps, pertussis or rubella. So why is there such a strong refusal against these vaccinations?

Vaccines are the very reason why we don’t see massive outbreaks and death, so it doesn’t seem to make much sense to refuse them for your child.

This “trend” of refusing vaccines began after Dr. Andrew Wakefield published a journal article in The Lancet saying that there was a direct correlation between autism and vaccinations. His claims were immediately met with questions and confusion from fellow researchers, yet some of the public chose to believe him.

Wakefield’s article talked specifically about the MMR vaccination, also known as measles, mumps and rubella. This is the most unvaccinated disease in America to date.

Recently there has been a spike in the number of measles cases in the United States. The CDC says there has been a reported 839 cases confirmed in 23 states, up 75 cases from May 10th. The CDC declared measles eliminated in 2000.

It only took a handful of children to bring back this deadly disease.

Cassandra Kelso, a mother of two, has chosen not to vaccinate her children because she claims, “The government is using vaccinations as a way to get more money out of the American citizen. And they would do more harm to my child than the disease itself.”

Kelso, like many others, have far fetched theories that vaccines can do more harm than good. There is a simple solution to parents like this, education. If parents like Kelso can be educated that vaccines not only help their child, but other children, then we wouldn’t have the outbreaks we do now.