Misinformation about vaccination has caused measles infection rate

Misinformation about vaccination has caused measles infection rate. Firstly, the widespread fear that vaccines increase the risk of autism originated with a 1998 study published by Andrew Wakefield, a British surgeon. According to the Boseley (2018), the article was published in The Lancet, a prestigious medical journal, suggesting that the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine was increasing autism in British children, as a result, a significant number of people are not convincing to have their children vaccinated. Secondly, populism is a vital reason for rising measles infection. Beyond public figures (i.e. Donald Trump) who use their fame to speak about subjects in which they are not experts, there are also social media influencers who spread and amplify inflammatory information through the social media megaphone. Thirdly, anti-vaccine messaging has emphasized a certain group of people (purity and liberty) unfortunately, other groups of people do not care about these ads, as a result, it creates misconceptions to other groups of people. According to Belluz (2017), who are in the purity and liberty group, anti-vaccination messages may appeal to this group, on the other hand, public health organizations have been focused on harm and fairness groups of people, as a result, the measles infection rate is rising. The true causes of measles remain a mystery, but to the discredit of the autism-vaccination link theory, populism and targeted group of people attitude are the significant causes of measles infection rate.

References

Belluz, J. (2017, December 5). What makes some parents fall for anti-vaccine messaging. Vox Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2017/12/5/16733744/vaccines-parents-anti-vax

Boseley, S. (2018, August 22). Measles is on the rise in Europe – and populism could be to blame. The Guardian Newspaper. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/22/measles-rise-europe-populism-andrew-wakefield