Position Paper

The City College of New York

The Impact of Hesitancy and Parental Refusal of Vaccines

Mavel Hidalgo

Writing for the Sciences (English – 21003)

Professor Matias

Vaccination rejection among the public has severely impacted society in recent years. Especially since the outbreak of COVID-19. Anti-vaccination groups are extending their reach of misleading information via the internet and further pushing vaccine skepticism. The recent decrease in public confidence in science has been observed and a strong anti-vaccination movement has been commenced. This has not only fueled skepticism about the latest COVID-19 vaccines, but also others that have been administrated and working for years now. It is of vital importance to debunk those anti-science vaccine skepticism sources which mislead the public and counterattack with real data that holds the truth of vaccines, in order for public skepticisms to start decreasing. 

If anti-vaccination movements continue to incorporate their propaganda into media, this could potentially lead to further outbreaks which could eventually range in high numbers of infections and disease. This is why I believe that vaccines are a very important part of healthcare, a great way to prevent masses of people becoming sick all at once and can ultimately save lives. Many will probably disagree with my stance on the argument, but I do firmly believe that patients should be the ones in charge of making important and quite frankly life changing decisions when it comes to their care.

Parental refusal of vaccines has impacted the scientific community recently. According to the Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology, there are various reasons examined as to why parents refuse, delay and/or are hesitant to vaccinate their children (McKee et al.). These reasons can be categorized in four units: Religious reasons, personal beliefs, safety concerns and overall lack of information from healthcare providers. Although no laws are in place regarding vaccine administration to children, medical exemption is allowed in all 50 states for certain patients. 

However, each state also has laws dictating which vaccinations are required for children prior to entering school. The required set of vaccines needed for a child at a certain age are extremely useful because they prevent serious diseases that once killed or harmed many infants, children, and adults. Meaning not only are the children protected and safe, but the vaccine also aids in preventing the spread of deadly diseases. These are all situations that have risen as consequence, due to many anti vaccination campaigns. On social media, the spread of false media such as memes, videos and photos can be processed, even accepted quicker than text articles. Social media has now become a source of news for a lot of people. Because of this, it is not really surprising how these anti vaccination groups are using this outlet to continue to propagate fake and damaging news. This ultimately can aid in leading the public to believe myths and information that are not grounded in scientific research. Which then leads to vaccination hesitancy, not only for children but for adults alike.

Just as the anti-vaccination movement is impacting many people in society, the pro-vaccination movement has dedicated itself to debunk and clear up myths, as well as non-scientific information that is propagated online. According to the Mayo Clinic Health System there are various myths surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines which, even though they have been debunked, anti-vaccination groups still propagate false and harmful information with no content sensitivity (Mayo Clinic; 2021). Myths such as the COVID-19 vaccine not being safe because of its accelerated development and testing have been used by anti-vaccination groups with no proof of their findings. 

The widespread fear of vaccines increasing the risk of autism originated with a biased published study by Andrew Wakefield which was then discredited due to serious procedural errors, as well as undisclosed financial conflicts of interest and ethical violations (Public Health; 2014). Even though the paper was then retracted, The Lancet journal apologized for its publishing and Andrew Wakefield lost his medical license, his hypothesis was taken seriously by many. Several other studies were conducted in order to debunk the false information in the Wakefield study and none of them found a link between any vaccine and the likelihood of developing autism. This is a prime piece of information used by anti-vaccination groups to further push the false narrative that autism is caused by vaccines. Pro-vaccination groups have debunked these myths over and over again. True cases of autism still do remain a mystery today, but in order to discredit the autism-vaccination link theory, there have been numerous studies that have now identified symptoms of autism in children well before they receive, they MMR vaccine (Public Health; 2014). 

A lot of society today hold skeptical views about the overall safety of vaccines in general. Just as many people believe in the efficacy of vaccines and the science that stands behind the accessibility to them. Because of this, it is safe to say that both the pro- and anti- vaccination movements hold high social media influence that help make this health debate mainstream. Life used to be brutal for children and adults alike before any of the vaccines that are administered today were around. Large portions of people fell to diseases like measles, smallpox, rubella and/or many others. Today these diseases can be prevented completely or present a barrier of protection against life threating afflictions with a simple vaccine. This goes to show that media coverages portraying false and damaging information as well as the myths being spread by anti-vaxxers can influence and cause vaccination hesitancy in our society. Overall Scientists who publish their research have a sort of responsibility with ensuring the best quality of data collecting, analysis and interpretation. This is why I believe in the science behind vaccination and the security it brings us when it comes to our health and that of our children.

Works Cited

McKee, Chephra, and Kristin Bohannon. “Exploring the Reasons Behind Parental Refusal of Vaccines.” The journal of pediatric pharmacology and therapeutics: JPPT: the official journal of PPAG vol. 21,2 (2016): 104-9. doi:10.5863/1551-6776-21.2.104

Mayo Clinic. “COVID-19 Vaccine Myths Debunked.” Mayo Clinic Health System, 2 Sept. 2021, www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/featured-topic/covid-19-vaccine-myths-debunked.

‌ Polack, Fernando P., et al. “Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 MRNA Covid-19 Vaccine.” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 383, no. 27, Dec. 2020, pp. 2603–15, https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa2034577.

Public Health. “Vaccine Myths Debunked | PublicHealth.org.” PublicHealth.org, PublicHealth.org, 2014, www.publichealth.org/public-awareness/understanding-vaccines/vaccine-myths-debunked/.