Are Vaccines Dangerous? In todays modern world we are plagued with opinions, conspiracies, social media, and media concerned with ratings over unbiased facts. Its no wonder most people are skeptic, doubtful, and inquisitive. But sometimes a little skepticism can be dangerous. Some people have begun to ask, are our vaccines more deadly than the diseases they prevent? Deadly diseases like Polio, mumps, measles and whooping cough, are known as sicknesses of the past but the fears regarding the side effects of vaccines are making them our very imminent future (MDH, 2012). In 1998 a study conducted by Andrew Wakefield claimed vaccines used to treat common diseases like mumps and measles also, had devastating side effects such as developing autism
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I believe this is because of a lack of several different things. A lack of education, lack in understanding in the incubating environment created from not taking the vaccine, and lack of fear regarding the deadly results of contracting the preventable disease contribute to the belief that vaccines cause autism. I also feel that people tend to follow the crowd, even if the claims are not based on fact. Lastly, propaganda spread by misled individual’s further fuels doubt and speculation. Such was the case in 2013, when CDC Scientist Dr. William Thompson claimed to have proof, covered up by the CDC, detailing vaccines did in fact cause autism. One news article addressing the issue claims Dr. Thompson plans to release a statement that his claims were false (Hooker, 2016). Despite Dr. Thompson’s expected publicized correction, it may be too late for those who chose to believe his initial report. Others may simply believe in the bigger rhetoric of conspiracy. Cases such as this also affect herd immunity theory, which protects the small percentage of citizens who choose not to be vaccinated due to religious beliefs or allergic reactions to some vaccines. The idea behind this concept is those who cant (or wont) received the vaccine, are protected because the majority of people around them are vaccinated and therefore immune to contracting and transmitting the disease. With more people being misled that the vaccines are harmful and choosing not to receive them, creates larger groups of non-vaccinated citizens to have person-to-person contact and spread the disease (Humphries,
I believe this is because of a lack of several different things. A lack of education, lack in understanding in the incubating environment created from not taking the vaccine, and lack of fear regarding the deadly results of contracting the preventable disease contribute to the belief that vaccines cause autism. I also feel that people tend to follow the crowd, even if the claims are not based on fact. Lastly, propaganda spread by misled individual’s further fuels doubt and speculation. Such was the case in 2013, when CDC Scientist Dr. William Thompson claimed to have proof, covered up by the CDC, detailing vaccines did in fact cause autism. One news article addressing the issue claims Dr. Thompson plans to release a statement that his claims were false (Hooker, 2016). Despite Dr. Thompson’s expected publicized correction, it may be too late for those who chose to believe his initial report. Others may simply believe in the bigger rhetoric of conspiracy. Cases such as this also affect herd immunity theory, which protects the small percentage of citizens who choose not to be vaccinated due to religious beliefs or allergic reactions to some vaccines. The idea behind this concept is those who cant (or wont) received the vaccine, are protected because the majority of people around them are vaccinated and therefore immune to contracting and transmitting the disease. With more people being misled that the vaccines are harmful and choosing not to receive them, creates larger groups of non-vaccinated citizens to have person-to-person contact and spread the disease (Humphries,