With a sudden increase in the amount of measles cases, panic has struck the nation.
The newfound concern parallels the rising debate of whether or not people should get vaccinated in order to prevent formerly eradicated diseases from spreading, such as the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR).
Although vaccines are considered safe and scientifically proven to work, many Americans controversially choose not to get vaccinated, resulting in an increase of animosity amongst communities that hold different opinions. Those who choose not to get vaccinated — otherwise known as “anti-vaxxers” — are society’s scapegoats as to why there is an increase in measles cases.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most recently recorded cases of measles involved those who were unvaccinated.
“In a hypothetical community where nobody has immunity from the measles virus, one infected person might infect 12 to 18 people, who might each infect another 12 to 18 people,” The New York Times said in an interactive infographic on the measles outbreak.
The highly infectious disease, which can be prevented nearly 100 percent of the time with only two doses of the vaccination, was declared eliminated in the year 2000. The CDC reports that an elimination merely means the disease is no longer widespread.
Unfortunately, as of 2015, there has been a significant rate of increase. In fact, as of late February, there have already been 154 confirmed cases, which will continue to increase unless more Americans choose to get vaccinated.
“We have the capability and technology to get rid of a fatal disease, and with rare, unlikely side effects resulting from a vaccine, there’s no reason not to get one,” senior Zach Ready said.
Of course this can all be avoided with two doses of the vaccination, administered at a young age.
Each person that develops an immunity towards the infection can potentially reduce the risk of those unvaccinated contracting the disease, which is called the “herd effect,” a slow yet considerable factor in the decline of the disease.
Anti-vaxxers, however, cling to their own individual beliefs and are reluctant to get vaccinated.
The origin of the anti-vaccine argument derived in 1998 when Andrew Wakefield, a former gastroenterologist at Royal Free Hospital in London, released a study discussing the possible correlation between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination and autism.
“We identified associated gastrointestinal disease and developmental regression in a group of previously normal children,” Wakefield and 12 other authors wrote in the study, “which was generally associated in time with possible environmental triggers.”
What anti-vaxxers do not take into consideration, however, is the fact that Wakefield’s study was merely a hypothesis; nothing was proven to be factual. His data was configured from too small of a sample, therefore it did not represent society accurately.
Moreover, Wakefield’s medical license was confiscated due to acting “dishonestly and irresponsibly in conducting the experiments that led to the publication of the paper” according to Time.
Since 1998, researchers have emulated the study but could not reproduce Wakefield’s findings or confirm his hypothesis. Still, it doesn’t help when celebrities take part in the mass media frenzy. Model and actress Jenny McCarthy, for instance, supported the claims that autism and vaccines are linked.
“If you ask a parent of an autistic child if they want the measles or the autism, we will stand in line for the… measles,” McCarthy said. “It shouldn’t be [measles] versus autism.”
Though the CDC states that the vaccines like those for MMR may only cause a mild fever or sore arm, severe reactions such as deafness, seizures, brain damage and comas have also been documented.
According to the CDC official website, one out of a million doses cause severe reactions, but “these are so rare that it is hard to tell whether they are caused by the vaccine.”
“In the absence of any answers from the scientific community, any scintilla of suggestion is going to get magnified by the social process of talking it out,” Dr. Lee Sanders, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said.
It is important to note that when the general public is at risk, matters of individual preference are superseded by public health. While it is not mandatory to get vaccinated, it should be strongly encouraged.
Ultimately, society should be aware of both extended arguments before coming to a decision. New York State allows the decision to abstain from vaccinations, but limits those unvaccinated from services such as allowing them into public schools. Other states who struggle with the debate should implement similar laws in the interests of public health.