Why are parents letting their children contract preventable diseases that have been nearly eradicated in the developed world? There has been a movement that sprouted in the past couple months. Anti-vaxxing has spread all throughout the country, similar to the diseases that were supposed to be prevented. The movement has increased in strength with the assistance of social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Those behind it all have used these platforms to amplify their misinformation. Despite all of this, medical professionals are attempting to erase it all.

In 1998, a man named Andrew Wakefield published a paper to The Lancet, a British peer-reviewed medical journal, stating his findings in a falsified study about the safety of vaccines. By presenting his discoveries that autism can be caused by the MMR vaccine, he deterred thousands of parents from vaccinating their children. The children in his study were specifically chosen because some of them had autism. As of now, he has gotten his license to practice medicine taken away. As stated by Hall High School nurse, Kathy Wnuk, “It all comes down to education and many parents have just listened to the wrong people.”

From January 1 to March 21, 2019 there were 314 cases of measles outbreaks confirmed just in the United States. In 2017, the number of outbreaks was only 120 in the United States. Due to parents and people not getting vaccinated the number shot up to 372 in 2018. Most of these cases could have been prevented if the adults/kids were vaccinated. At Temple University in Philadelphia, there have been 67 confirmed cases of mumps on campus.

All scientific professionals agree that vaccines are perfectly safe. Vaccines go through heavy screening before releasing to the public. This process “can take several years.” Even after vaccines are released, they are monitored tightly by the FDA to ensure that they are still safe and work effectively. In New York Times article, “Not Up for Debate; The Science Behind Vaccination” writer Aaron E. Carroll says that recent studies have included,”six self-controlled case series studies, two ecological studies, one case crossover trial, five time series trials, 17 case-control studies, 27 cohort studies and five randomized controlled trials.” According to him, more than 15 million children participated in these studies and none of them showed that there was any correlation between vaccines and autism.

Many people put their children’s health at risk for a connection to autism (or other disabilities) that hasn’t ever been proven. With the help of scientists and medical organizations, however, the anti-vaccination phenomenon has something to go up against. By rejecting the science and logic behind vaccines, you are sacrificing your child’s health.