Vaxxed Documentary

After reading and hearing about multiple news reports about parents refusing to vaccinate their children over the years, it might come as a surprise that American children actually receive more vaccinations than ever before due to government policies. Less than 0.5 percent of children receive no vaccines at all. In Vaccine Nation, Elena Conis argues that the widespread adherence to vaccination is as important of a study as vaccine resistance is. She turns her perspective on to the spread of vaccines in the postwar era when new vaccines targeted the “milder” diseases of childhood such as measles, mumps, and whopping cough. More recently, vaccines have been developed and promoted that protect against diseases that largely affect adults. Elena

Andrew Wakefield is a former gastroenterologist and medical researcher who was discharged from his medical register in the UK, because of his dishonest research paper he released back in 1998, that analysed a possible link between measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and the presence of autism and bowel disease (Godlee, F., et al, 2011). Wakefield's research generated a substantial scare for the MMR vaccine and MMR vaccination rates began to drop because parents were concerned about the risk of autism after vaccination (DeStefano, F., Chen, R.T., 1999). After the paper was published by the Lancet medical newspaper, other reviews were trying to repeat Wakefield's conclusions,

After watching The Vaccine War, the main concerns of vaccines are public safety, the aftermath of injecting harmful chemicals into ones’ body and the parents that choose not to vaccinate their children. In the beginning of the documentary, a mother, Jennifer Margulis, states she felt like it was not needed for her newborn child to be vaccinated for a sexual transmitted disease. She feels like the ingredients are scary for a young child to take in with an immature immune system. The other issue is a massive outbreak of disease that could have been prevented. The Center of Disease Control is carefully watching the town that Ms. Margulis lives, Ashland, Oregon, because it’s the least vaccinated places in America due to parents

For years there has been public controversies over the advancements in science and all of the health risks that have been around, but now the use of the media has certainly boosted the amount of confusion throughout the public. Frightening stories regarding the progressions of science have been appearing online and in print. One particular example of this issue was the MMR vaccine debate. The MMR vaccine is an immunization vaccine which fights against rubella, measles, and mumps. During the 1990’s the media played a huge role in the decisions parents made regarding whether or not they allowed their children to get vaccinated. The media portrayed the MMR vaccine as having a possible link between autism. Which left the public worried about the MMR vaccine and having conflicting views and feelings towards the safety of vaccinations. In the MMR vaccine debate scientist and the media played two different roles which helped citizens make decisions regarding vaccination.

Dr. Mark Randall, a pseudonym for an ex-vaccine worker who spoke out about the truth of vaccination labs, worked in the vaccination world for over ten years. He witnessed many concerning things in labs, in statistics, and in the information the government gave out to the public. He gave the truth when no one else would speak out. His account helped open the eyes of many people. Dr. Randall said, “The decline of disease is due to improved living conditions” (qtd. in “Jon Rappaport Interviews”). His implication was that the vaccinations are not the cause of an increase in health. After doing his own investigation into vaccinations, he found that not all vaccines are proven to work. He even said that the vaccines can cause adverse side effects (1).

In healthcare, we are seeing an influx of children with diseases that were once eradicated by vaccinations. It does not help that in recent years many public figures, be it actors or politicians, have begun speaking out about the effects vaccinations potentially have on children. Whether they have done the proper research or not, their fame and notoriety brings about attention that most would not. So, what does the increase in non-vaccinated children mean to the rest of those that accepted the vaccinations. A closer look at immunizations for adults and children, the herd immunity that is in jeopardy, and the culture and reasoning of the anti-vaccination group may shed some light on the culture of anti-vaccination.

& Andrade C. (2011), “ a groups of colleagues leaded by Andrew Wakefield has been published a dangers and very series in the Lancet,” which suggested that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine may predispose to character regression and pervasive growth in life of children(Sathyanarayan Rao & Andrade,2011). Despite the fact without enough researched and reality and the fact wrongfully speculated and brings it up to the public attention and confused parent and stop vaccination of their children.Because of this dangerous information from media and critical situations, the parent had a difficult time to vaccinate and put their lovely child’s life at risk (sathyanarayan Rao & Andrade, 2011). Not very too long that almost the same time after the wrong post, epidemiological studies were come out and reported stated that the similar posted link between MMR vaccination and autism (p 3,4). The logic that the MMR vaccine may trigger autism was also questioned stated because both are dangers for the child's future (Sathyanarayan Rao & Andrade, 2011). Almost all of the groups admitting the all mace they created, and they decided to gain benefit from this wrong action and complete by retracting and interpreted the element in the paper incorrectly. which is contrary to the findings of the original report and finally Wakefield were responsible and guilty ethical violations which they had completely irresponsible, and invasive investigations on the child’s life with false statement and scientific misrepresentation(Sathyanayan Rao & Andrade, 2011

Many children in the USA remain unvaccinated and that could put a large number of people at risk. Throughout history, communicable diseases have proven to be a scourge on society, claiming millions of lives, especially the most vulnerable of humanity….

This news terrified many parents and they stopped vaccinating their children. Now many people are arguing whether or not the government should be able to force parents to vaccinate their kids. Senator Rand Paul stated, "I'm not arguing vaccines are a bad idea. I think they're a good thing. But I think the parent should have some input. The state doesn't own your children; parents own their children and it is an issue of freedom." However, it is the governments job to protect the majority population from any threat, including disease. During the 2013 Flu season 105 minors died of the flu, and over 90% of them were unvaccinated. Many parents were still frightened by the study conducted by Andrew Wakefield. However the study was discredited in 2010 when Brian Deer, an investigative reporter, discovered that his research was being funded by lawyers trying to sue drug companies that produced the MMR vaccine in a $56 million lawsuit. Wakefield lied about the 12 patients used in his study; it was later revealed that 5 of the children studied already had preexisting mental development problems. Wakefield also claimed that 9 of the children showed symptoms of regressive autism, which affects later in childhood, but in fact only 1 child showed the signs. In May of 2010 the General Medical Council in the UK revoked Wakefield’s medical license stating that he had acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly”. Many other studies have been conducted testing this claim however none have been able to reproduce the same research as

The current issue I have selected to discuss is vaccinations. In particular, I will be addressing the anti-vaccination movement that has gained popularity in recent years and the contributing biases that influenced its emergence. One event stands out at as a major contributing factor to the growth of the anti-vaccination movement, the 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield that was published by the English medical journal, Lancet. This study claimed to show a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism. Even though it was just one small study, the media picked it up and it became hugely publicized.

This led to the support of various unproven vaccine-autism theories by parents in both the UK and America. After findings of intestinal disease in children with autism, Wakefield claimed that separating the MMR into three different vaccinations would be safer. Since then, Wakefield’s research has been discredited, he was charged with serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council for violating several ethical practices, and he was investigated for failing to disclose conflict of interest – a pending patent on a rival measles vaccine (Gross, 2009). Although false, many still believe wholeheartedly that vaccines are harmful.

One such factor helping to manifest these large-scale epidemics is a study from 1998 by Andrew Wakefield, which claimed that there was a direct link between autism and the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine (Smith 1). As a result, many parents refused to vaccinate their children out of fear, and vaccine-preventable diseases like measles began reappearing more in both America and Britain, the place where Wakefield conducted his study (Cohen 2). Although a later investigation by the British Medical Journal discovered that Wakefield had distorted or altered the medical records of all twelve of the study’s participants and that he had been paid $674,000 USD by lawyers attempting to sue vaccine manufacturers, the atmosphere of apprehension surrounding vaccines is still strong among many individuals, and especially parents (Cohen 1-2). But despite all the controversy and the scientifically unsupported arguments of anti-vaccine sympathizers,

Now, many once-forgotten diseases are reappearing. TIME Magazine reported that “In 2014, the U.S. experienced a major outbreak of measles that totaled 383 cases and was primarily spreading among an unvaccinated Amish community in Ohio.” (Measles Outbreak) The number of cases of these diseases is going up when it can be easily prevented. Worldwide, “Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available.” (World Health

Vaccines very rarely have any adverse effects and have been proven to have no link to the development of ASD in children. Nevertheless, parents continue to fear them. While this research article by Andrew Wakefield—along with twelve others from the Royal Free Medical School in London—seems legitimate, the data was found to be distorted (Deer). Moreover, the article was then retracted in 2010 and Wakefield’s medical license was revoked (Deer). In Wakefield’s research of the children, it was found that “only one clearly had regressive autism” (Deer). In fact, many of the children that Wakefield had studied in the article “had developmental delays, and also facial dysmorphisms noted before MMR vaccination” (Deer). Even after the article was retracted and it was proven that his research was unfounded, there continued to be skepticism about vaccines but they are urged to inoculate their children.

Andrew Wakefield was an English doctor who made the argument in 1998 that vaccines were a cause for autism and MMR. Wakefield’s study was published in a major medical journal and his results were not able to be replicated. Eventually the study was removed from the medical journal and deemed inaccurate.