Our world has entered an incredible era of technological development, which has significantly affected the level of medicine – new drugs and treatments have been created; some diseases have disappeared. Every day, scientists make many efforts to find a way to defeat new threats to human lives and make them better. One of the simplest and yet extremely effective methods is the vaccine. However, despite significant advances due to particular views, dangerous diseases preventable by vaccination are still spreading.
One of the most impressive examples of the disease, which is widespread due to the unwillingness of part of the population to make vaccines, is measles. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2019), this disease caused regular epidemics before the invention of preventive medicine, taking many lives. Measles affects the most vulnerable people – young children, especially those who lack food. The disease for them can lead to severe complications. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2020) highlights pneumonia, encephalitis, respiratory and neurological complications, and death. The disease can be prevented with an inexpensive and effective vaccine, which has been used in medicine for more than sixty years. WHO calls this measure “one of the best buys in public health,” as it was able to prevent more than twenty-three million deaths (World Health Organization, 2019, para. 4). Thus, the facts prove the benefit and effectiveness of the use of such drugs.
However, there are individuals who do not believe in vaccines’ effectiveness, and they even created their own movement – vaccine hesitancy or anti-vaccination. Representatives of this social movement do not recognize the safety of vaccines and refuse them. Moreover, the refusal applies not only to personal health – parents make such a decision instead of children. Opponents of vaccination arose at the time of its creation, but their main arguments were religious at first. Further, they based their objections on the protection of personal rights and freedoms of people.
Representatives of the movement have shown the greatest activity over the past few decades. According to Hussain et al. (2018), the movement revived after the publication in 1998 of Andrew Wakefield’s article on the connection of measures, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine with children’s autism. Although the findings of the former doctor were not confirmed, they widely spread misconceptions about vaccines. The sharing of ideas became incredibly simple in current conditions, and anti-vaccinators gained a profound influence on social networks and blogs; several media personalities supported them. These factors contributed to the disease’s spread, where it has not been there for a long time.
Medical personnel is those who are primarily faced with the consequences of the spread of any diseases. A significant part of their activities is aimed at preventing infections. Even in the Bible, there were instructions to health care – good food, hygiene, and other methods. Moreover, the use of measures to prevent diseases is also mentioned: “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent diseases” (Bible, n.d.). In the fight against diseases, what can be stopped by the vaccine medical must outweigh the arguments of anti-vaccinators and prove the effectiveness of this measure.
Thus, some dangerous diseases, such as measles, which lead to multiple deaths, can be stopped by a simple vaccination procedure. However, there is a movement whose representatives consider this measure as interference with human freedom and not protection from the disease, but an additional threat to health. Even though their arguments have no scientific basis, they gained influence thanks to the support of famous personalities and the Internet’s capabilities. Medical personnel can only fight them by running their own information campaign to prove the benefits of vaccines.
References
Bible. (n.d.). 1 Timothy 5:23. Web.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Complications of measles. Web.
Hussain, A., Ali, S., Ahmed, M., & Hussain, S. (2018). The Anti-vaccination Movement: A Regression in Modern Medicine. Cureus, 10(7), e2919. Web.
World Health Organization. (2019). Measles. Web.