Anti Vaccination Movement Research Paper

I want to start this essay off with something that people need to hear; vaccines DO NOT cause autism! Sadly, in the last 30 years a movement has started that has challenged this scientifically proven fact. This movement is called the Anti-Vaccination Movement, and the people who follow are called Anti-Vaxxers. Anti-Vaxxers are people, typically parents, who oppose vaccination for their children and overall don’t trust the medical profession. Their movement has allowed the chance for deadly diseases that use to be eradicated, thanks to vaccination, to show their ugly faces, because they are so engrossed by the fear that vaccines cause autism.
This whole Anti-Vaxxer movement was galvanized by one study in the 1990’s. This study by (former) Dr. Andrew Wakefield showed an astonishing connection between the MMR …show more content…
The study went like this; 12 children were brought to a hospital and given the MMR, Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, vaccination and later 8 of these children were diagnosed with Autism! So in 1998 Mr. Wakefield goes public with his finding, and the public bought into it hard. For example, In the U.K, where the study was conducted, the vaccination rate dropped to 80%. Now you might think, “What’s wrong with that, 80% is a really high number”, but 80% is not enough. According to CDC, at least 95% of the people need to be vaccinated to prevent a major outbreak; so with only a 80% vaccination rate, potentially an outbreak can occur. Unfortunately the United States public also caught wind of this study and the vaccination rate pulmeted. These views have carried over into today’s society, with a study done in 2015 showing that 1/3rd of Americans parents ages 18 to 29 believe vaccinations cause autism. So why is this? There are a few reasons: first people are afraid of something they should