Anti-Vax: Facts or Wack?

Reporter Kaylee Walls

The Anti-Vaccination Movement is the hesitancy to be vaccinated or to have one's children vaccinated for legal, ethical or medical issues. The movement began in France around 1763 and spread in the 1800’s in England and the United States with opposition to the smallpox vaccine. More recent movements have spread controversy over the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) , measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines with the notion that these vaccines are inefficient and unsafe.

There are many different opinions on these vaccines and their effects, however, in recent studies it has consistently been proven that these vaccines have no connection with neurological diseases. The belief that autism or ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) was caused by MMR or thimerosal (the mercury- based preservative in vaccines) was supported by a steady increase in ASD cases through the 1990’s along with the higher dosage of thimerosal in the climbing vaccine rates. When the thimerosal dosage decreased soon after the controversy, the ASD rates still continued to rise, disproving the theory. The rising ASD rates are instead thought to be caused by the broadening definition of autism and diagnostic substitution.

The original smallpox vaccine was sparked in England in the early 1800’s. Edward Jenner sparked mass controversy by claiming that he could prevent smallpox by taking the lymph from a cowpox blister and inserting it in a person’s flesh, which required cutting the skin and putting infecting them. The Vaccination Act was developed in 1853 and claimed that all children under the age of three months be vaccinated using this technique which led to the establishment of the Anti Vaccination League. This league swore against the vaccination due to personal, religious, or ethical beliefs.

Anti Vaccination leagues began to spread wildly in the United States during the beginning of the 20th century after a smallpox outbreak. Henning Jacobson refused to get the vaccine claiming that it violated his right to his own body, the case was taken to court and Jacobson lost.

Controversy over the DTP vaccine has been aroused more recently starting in the mid 1970’s in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The debated after a children’s hospital in London claimed that 36 children had neurological problems that arose after receiving the immunization. News Sources took advantage of this information and the news resulted in the formation of the The Association of Parents of Vaccine Damaged Children.

After a major decrease in immunization rates in the United States, the Joint Commission on Vaccination and Immunization took matters into their own hands and confirmed the safety of the vaccine, however controversy still continued.

More than two decades later Dr. Andre Wakefield questioned the relationship between the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) and autism. His results concluded that the vaccine was not properly tested before being released to the public and this unleashed fear and confusion among the public.

Since then, there have been many studies illustrating that there is in fact no link between autism and the MMR vaccine.

The studies conducted prove that there is no no correlation between any of these vaccines and autism or other neurological vaccines. However, there will most likely always be controversy over the topic due to people’s differing philosophical, political, or spiritual beliefs.