Vaccine Misinformation

According to an article in the Lancet, the British Prime Minister has made an outline for a plan to promote accurate information about vaccinations. This was a response to the WHO’s statement saying that UK is no longer considered to have eliminated measles. In the US, there was around 2,000 cases of measles, a resurgence likely caused by misinformation spread about vaccinations by anti vax organizations. The WHO defines vaccine hesitancy as a “delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of vaccination services. The article states that “what once was a fringe opinion is becoming a transnational movement.”

Misinformation on social media is abundant and statements like “so, a baby can handle 8-9 viruses all at once via vaccination, but cannot handle one single virus when it’s wild caught?” is misleading and need to be disproved. Additional statements posted by anti vaxers read, “so glad I didn’t get my beautiful children vaccinated but it looks like the majority have already been brainwashed,” and “my baby boy got measles but he’s doing great all thanks to his unweakened immune system” are commonly posted on social media sites. These have the potential to transcend into a more public sphere for consumption. By educating the general public about the importance of vaccinations and by warning them about misinformation by anti vaxers on social media, we can all play our individual parts in keeping our communities safe. Vaccinations are important to maintain herd immunity for immunocompromised individuals that are unable to get vaccines due to health problems.

Lastly, The Washington Post published an article about a wealthy Manhattan couple has emerged as financers of the anti-vaccine movement giving over $3 million to groups in the past couple of years. The money is used to create fears about immunizations online. This is just another example of how mis-information gets spread to the public which unfortunately has caused measles outbreaks and increased preventable disease. In fact, the article also mentions organizations like the Children’s Health Defense that fights legislative efforts to tighten vaccine requirements and even raise money to support the Dr. Wakefield Justice Fund. It is crucial for health providers and educated individuals to keep fighting back against anti-vaccination campaigns.