There is a disturbing trend in vaccination. Fewer and fewer parents are opting to have their children vaccinated because of the belief that vaccines are harmful to health. The claims take a variety of forms but the most prevalent is the idea that vaccination causes autism.
The current generation of new parents grew up in a world of vaccination and therefore do not remember what life was like before the common vaccinations became available. The scourge of polio, measles, smallpox, rubella, etc. They do not have memories of the kid down the street falling prey to one of these diseases. They cannot imagine a world where Suzi just stopped showing up to school and finding out a week later that she had smallpox. They may never see Suzi again. This is unheard of in developed countries. The danger, if any, was far outweighed by the benefits of not having to worry if your child was going to contract a serious disease.
Let's examine the ":dangers" of vaccines:
Where did the original claim of vaccination danger come from? It was first supposed in a 19998 paper published in "The Lancet" by Andrew Wakefield. The paper suggested a link between the MMR (Mumps, Measles, Rubella) vaccine and a condition called autistic enterocolitis and other gastrointestinal pathologies. The paper recommended further study on the link between the vaccine and these conditions which were supposedly linked to autism. That's were it all started.
It turns out that the paper was utterly fraudulent. Autistic enterocolitis is not real condition and was invented by Mr. Wakefield to support the data. The paper was completely discredited and Mr. Wakefield was placed under investigation for ethics violations, professional misconduct, fraud, and conflict of interest. This ultimately led to the revocation of his ability to practice medicine. You would think that the issue would have been put to rest there, but it didn't die with the original fake paper.
There are so many conditions, diseases, complications said to have been caused by some form of vaccination that I could not possibly list all of them. They run the spectrum from Autism, to arthritis, cancer, and death. Pick a condition and someone has probably blamed it on a vaccination. Many times the articles or research links to things that the lay person would have no idea about. I know of no one (including myself) outside of a medical professional who knows what Acute Encephalopathy, Thrombocytopenia, Febrile Seizures, or Brachial Neuritis is without looking it up. And even then, the definitions are often presented in even more medical jargon making a full understanding of the condition very difficult. Take into account that a full understanding of a disease includes more than the definition. It would include things like pathology, transmission, prognosis, treatment, etc. However.... they all sound scary and that is enough.
What of the credentials of the people making the claims? Firstly, anyone who says something causes a disease should be a medical professional. They are the only people who have the knowledge base to understand the complexity of the human body enough to come to reasonable conclusions. And these people must have degrees from accredited universities with proper graduate degree programs. Bob's School of Medicine doesn't count despite the fact that every graduate puts "Dr." before their name and "MD" after it on their business cards and letterhead.
Secondly, it takes much more than medical expertise to determine cause; most notably, statisticians. I don't know of many MDs who have their medical PhD and a doctorate degree in statistics. You need people to design the experiment, those who can carry it out, and people who can interpret the data and form conclusions. Then, it must be subjected to peer review and repeat-ability trials. This cannot be accomplished in a matter of months, it must be done over the course of years.
It comes down to a few well known claims:
- Vaccines cause diseases, including autism and autoimmune diseases.
- Vaccines contain toxins, which can harm the body in unknown ways.
- Too many vaccines given together can overwhelm the immune system.
- Vaccines are unnecessary, and/or do not work.
None of these claims have been supported by medical research that meets the standard above. The claims have been refuted at length by people a whole lot smarter than me. The catch-all logically fallacious defense amounts to some form of conspiracy theory. The claims resort to fear, uncertainty, and doubt.... a common tool for those who wish to influence someone else's behavior.
So who cares? What difference does it make if you choose not to vaccinate? Many claim the same answer when challenged about other dubious health practices such as gluten free diet, organic floods, etc. It's "well it's my choice and this is what I'm choosing." Yes, a reasonable, although childish, defense. But there is a big difference here: You not eating gluten has no potential impact on my life. Failure to immunize can. There is a concept called "herd immunity" which refers to the percent of immune individuals that must be resent in a herd to establish immunity of the whole group. It's the main reason people are encouraged to get the flu vaccine.... it's not that the flu will kill you (although I know it can lead to fatal complications in people who have compromised immune systems), it's that immunization will prevent everyone from getting it. We are rapidly approaching the herd immunity threshold for some of the diseases that are unheard of in developed countries.
The current trend of ignorance and the idea that they are somehow smarter than the whole of the scientific community will drag us back to the days of applying the same treatments as were done for the plague. If anyone can show me credible research, I am open to changing my opinion. But I am confident in my stance that such research does not exist.
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