Eps 24: anti vaxxers
— The too lazy to register an account podcast
Refusing vaccines started back in the early 1800s when the smallpox vaccine started being used in large numbers.
Some people don't get flu vaccines for themselves or for their children.
Most side effects from the flu vaccine are mild and go away within 1 to 2 days.
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Louis Miles
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Researchers studying vaccine opposition movements say they are concerned that the message could undermine efforts to achieve herd immunity against the new coronavirus. With scientists racing to develop a vaccine against COVID-19, there is concern that their efforts could be undermined.
Researchers studying the activists' tactics say their message could hamper efforts to build herd immunity to the new coronavirus by vaccinating. Concerns about the safety of vaccines, combined with complacency about their usefulness in combating disease, have led to a decline in vaccination rates in Western countries in recent years.
Neil Johnson, professor of physics at GWU, warns that so-called "anti-vaxxers" in the US and other countries could gain access to future coronavirus vaccines and influence their uptake if they become available.
Experts say scientists and vaccine advocates need to engage on social media to combat misinformation about vaccines. As the coronavirus continues to spread around the world, vaccination critics who rely on "junk science" are protesting against the coronavirus vaccine. A recent study published in Nature looked at more than 1,000 anti-vaxxers in the US and other countries in 2019 and found that anti-vaxxers are more likely to engage with ideologies that seem to be hiding around vaccines.
Benbrook, a mother who asked not to give her last name for fear that her family might be targeted by vaccination advocates, says she fears she may be forced to vaccinate her 2-year-old daughter in the event of a global pandemic. Anti-vaxxers have been campaigning against vaccines on social media for years, but the potential impact of these efforts is far more serious now that there is a virus and the virus is on its way to the US and other parts of the world. On the whole, opponents of vaccines believe that vaccines are a tool of government control that enriches large pharmaceutical companies and does lasting damage to people's health, so they are probably the only way out.
In Texas, students must be vaccinated before going to school, and in some states, such as California and New York, they must be vaccinated.
In 2003, lawmakers passed a law allowing children to apply for an exemption on "grounds of conscience," including religious belief, provided parents sign an affidavit. Dislikes of vaccination often stem from misinformation that fuels anxiety, not from a lack of knowledge about vaccine safety.
Although more children are vaccinated today than in the last decade, new outbreaks of preventable diseases are threatening these children's lives. Recently, a disease once considered eradicated, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), spread in the United States, forcing the state of New York to deal with a new outbreak (Figure 2). Although the World Health Organization calls this a vaccine delay, there are dire consequences resulting from a lack of knowledge about vaccine safety and its potential for adverse effects on children's health.
Floyd Sears's views were influential, and the Vaccine Conversation podcast has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times since its release, but it has gained no public awareness and likely contributed to outbreaks of diseases such as measles and whooping cough. Experts say the trend shows no sign of sceptics changing their minds about vaccines, even in the face of a global pandemic that has already claimed more than 138,000 lives. While vaccine skeptics question the need for medical immunization, advocates of health and medical freedom tend to oppose mandatory medical interventions.
On 31 March, the White House Coronavirus Task Force predicted that between 100,000 and 240,000 people could die in the United States alone, despite efforts to contain the spread of the virus. Protesters plan to gather in San Francisco on Tuesday to demand that Governor Gavin Newsom waive their right to free speech and worship in response to the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic - so people can practice their God.
If that sounds familiar, it is because it is essentially the same message that demonstrators are using to protest a law that makes it more difficult for students to be exempt from mandatory vaccinations. Demonstrators frame their position as defending personal choices, because the bill does not deny parents the right to leave their children in the hands of their parents, but rather prevents unvaccinated children from being enrolled in public schools, where other people's children's health may be at risk.
In the wake of the Covid 19 wave, a UNICEF report warned that more than 117 million children are at risk of losing their lives - saving measles vaccinations.