Anti Vaccination Essay

In recent years, the correlation between vaccines and autism has become the subject of much debate. On one side, there are the anti-vaccinators, or anti-vaccers. On the other, there’s pretty much everyone else. Despite the fact that the anti-vaccination movement has little base in scientific fact, their campaign to end early infanthood vaccinations rages on. While doctors and scientists try desperately to make parents look at the research studies, vaccination rates continue to fall. But, even in these dark times, there is still hope that scientific fact will prevail and defeat the anti-vaccination fear mongers who have caused many children to fall ill and even die because their parents did not properly vaccinate them. This is one of the most saddening scientific failures of the twenty-first century. A failure to educate the public properly has resulted in child, even infant, fatalities. The anti-vaccination movement was started based on falsified data and continues only because of a lack of knowledge and proper education of the general public.

To fully understand the reasoning, however fraudulent, behind the anti-vaccination movement, one must first know what a vaccine is and how it works. A typical vaccine works by introducing a small, weakened version of the target virus into the system of the vaccine receiver. The receiver then fights off the inferior version, preparing the white blood cells for future attacks. In theory, this creates an immunity to the target virus. Vaccines have been proven to be the most effective method in preventing viral diseases.

Now, one vaccine in particular worries the anti-vaccers; the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella). The reason they think it is bad is because of its high mercury content, caus...

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...et ahold of an idea, it takes a lot to make them let it go and admit they were wrong. The whole ordeal calls to mind the Red Scare in the early stages of the Cold War. Senator Joseph McCarthy told the American people that there were communists in their midst who were threats to their freedom. The population, as usual, invested heavily in these witch hunts, which resulted in Sen. McCarthy putting many of his political opponents on trial and in prison, claiming they were communists. Much like in the anti-vaccination movement, the public supported him with a terrifying fervor. The only way to avoid more of this exploitation is to educate yourself and your peers outside of mainstream media. To avoid becoming a part of the public hivemind, you must form your own opinions, independently. If Americans can successfully do this, next time maybe science and logic will prevail.