Vaccines – What’s New?

The anti-vaccine movement has been finding new ways to misinform the general public, especially through the use of social media. Instagram and other social media platforms have started blocking posts and hashtags that this group is using, in order to prevent the spread of misinformation. These efforts have not stopped the movement, but have fueled it more instead. Those against vaccination have also started protesting in front of doctor offices in order to sway those bringing their children in for vaccination. Although the original research by Dr. Andrew Wakefield was taken down and his findings renounced, the anti vaccination movement continues to prosper.

Vaccination rates for measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine have dropped to about 94.3% from the normal rate of about 95%. This means the optimal level for effective herd immunity is not being reached, and more cases will continue to arise. This is the 3rd year in a row that these vaccination levels have dropped, due to the increasing members of the anti vaccination movement. The United States has also been removed from the World Health Organization list of countries that have eliminated measles due to the increasing incidence. This is frightening to doctors because diseases thought to be extinct in our society, have made their way back into the picture because of the lack of those vaccinating their children.

Several ideas have been a factor in the minds of the anti vaccination parents as an affirmation of their beliefs. The mistrust in pharmaceutical companies and the government plays a large role in the hesitancy of parents to vaccinate their children. The requirement of vaccinations put a sense in mistrust by these communities and therefore decreases the likelihood of their submission. The self absorbed society that is common in the US is another part of the decrease in willingness to vaccinate. One of the major ideas involved with vaccinations is protecting the immunocompromised that can’t receive a vaccine. Parents have shown more likely to be concerned with the well being of their own children, rather than helping the herd immunity.