Annotated Bibliography

Every year, tens of thousands Americans die from the seasonal flu alone. This alarming statistic is what led the United States government to urge the country to vaccinate themselves, as well as their children every November, when the flu season is fast approaching. Though countless Americans do follow the government’s plea, many others insist that these vaccines distributed every year (as well as other year-long vaccines) contain an abnormally high amount of thimerosal, (a mercury-based chemical in vaccines designed to prevent the growth of bacteria) which could eventually lead to autism. This generation of fear is what has led many concerned parents to refuse to vaccinate their children, who seem to be the most vulnerable to this disease.

The controversy over the MMR vaccine started in the late 1990’s when Andrew Wakefield suggested that there was a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism in a scientific paper which he had published with several other co-authors. Although there has not been a proven fact that the MMR vaccine is the causation to autism it has brought concerns to parents and has caused a major drop in immunization rates. For example, Dannetun et al., 2005 states that, “Fear of side effects and beliefs

In order to investigate more about Wakefield’s study, Brian Deer, a journalist of British Medical Journal, carefully talked to the parents of all children who were participated in the study. Interestingly enough, he revealed the fraud behind Wakefield’s research. The Lancet, the journal that reported Wakefield’s study, retracted the paper soon afterwards (Deer). However, the real trouble still exists. Though it has been proved by many researchers that the MRR doesn’t cause autism, many people perceive the vaccine as a threat. Dr.Nemeroff once said “it is quite difficult to get the cognitive sewage out of the water even after the real sewage is gone” (Greene).

Doctor Andrew Wakefield’s study, published the 28th of February, 1998 in the scientific magazine The Lancet, is constantly cited as being the catalyst for the ongoing debate on whether or not vaccinations have any connections to autism. In the case of Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s study on the connections between autism and the M.M.R. (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine, proper scientific experimental procedures were not seen to, such as his not including a control group. That is to say, in an act transgressing scientific integrity, he documented the cases

Susie O’Brien is driven to write about how anti-vaccinators are putting other kids' lives at danger and additionally their own. By using an anecdote of a boy named Riley, “the latest was a darling boy named Riley Hughes, from Western Australia, who was just four weeks old when he died last week” O’Brien highlights that a boy who was just

Andrew Wakefield’s research and the movie “Vaxxed” has provoked skepticism about vaccines’ safety and generated a lack of vaccinated children. Wakefield has tried to spread false

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.

When Dr. Jenner introduced the smallpox vaccine he was met with as much condemnation as he was with praise, “ministers thundered against tampering with the Lord’s grand design. The economist Thomas Malthus worried that vaccines would lead to dangerous population increases” (Oshinsky). After all the years, the arguments against Dr. Jenner’s work have become obsolete yet the crusade against vaccines still wages on wielding new arguments. The recent revival of the anti-vaccination movement came about during 1990s, “the movement…had less to do with fears of personal liberties being deprived than with claims of a link between vaccines and various afflictions, especially autism. It hardly mattered that study after study would refute this junk science” (Oshinsky). This controversy holds elements of morality, politics and ethical issues, but is not limited to those arguments. Elements of the destruction of personal liberties

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,

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.

For hundreds of years, vaccines have been preventing dangerous and deadly diseases such as polio, the measles, hepatitis, and more. However, as long as there have been vaccines, there has been strong opposition to their use. Perhaps the most common belief is that vaccines—specifically the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, is tied to an increased risk of autism. Media coverage, based on inaccurate evidence and disproved by scientific studies, has led to a large public fear that autism can be caused by vaccines. These beliefs stem primarily from a 1998 publication by British doctor Andrew Wakefield; yet even after this paper was deemed inaccurate, these fears did not recede, and have only seemed to become more prevalent in society.

A bold claim that's been made in the scientific community and is in the minority group yet is still a growing belief is a link between vaccinations and diagnosis of autism in children. Andrew Wakefield conducted research based on William Thompson, the 'whistle-blower' of the CDC and exposed supposedly hidden and doctored data of links between the MMR vaccine and neurological disorder. Sarah Cox is a woman who had her son immunised and strongly believes to be vaccine damaged and is a strong activist against immunisation. The basis of her belief was her son and how from when he was born in 1996, he was immunised and throughout the years, he “deteriorated” in front of his mother’s

The goal of this paper is to examine why so many people have chosen not to vaccinate themselves and/ or their children. In the research I have done over this topic, the general consensus over vaccines seems to be in support of them. However, one source I examined had to do with many of the reasons that people decide that vaccines are not for them. In Claire McCarthy 's article, The Top 7 Reasons Parents Tell Me They Don 't Want to Vaccinate, there are a wide array of reasons behind people not getting or making sure there family is vaccinated. Some of these reasons include the belief that they are nothing but a conspiracy to many believing it causes autism. The reasons in this article will be the stepping stones to this paper, and I will examine why people believe the way they do regarding vaccines.

The international crisis behind the questioning of vaccines began when Lancet came out with an article in 1988 by Andrew Wakefield, MD. Within this publication, Dr. Wakefield scared the public when he suggested that there is a link between vaccinations and autism in children (Dyer, 2015). After this article was released, the population showed an increasing distrust in the healthcare system. However, since this time, many other medical doctors have come out and reported that Dr. Wakefield’s allegations are false, considering he did not provide evidence behind his statements. Still, in todays’ era, the world continues to see an increasing suspicion of the vaccine engineers and the idea that vaccines are beneficial- this

Vaccines are considered to be a medical invention that has eradicated diseases like measles, rubella, and whooping cough and prevented people from suffering devastated symptoms (Chatterjee & O 'Keefe, 2010). Even though it is a great medical invention, today there is diminished trust by parents, couple with their concern of its safety. Parents are concern that thiomersela component that contains mercury in vaccines, causes autism (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013 b). Even though scientific evidence shows there is no relationship between autism and vaccine (CDC, 2013 b). Parents are stating it is their autonomy to protect their children from unsafe drugs. However, the government and public health workers don’t share the parents’ views. This has gotten a lot of attention due to the recent out breaks of measles at Disney Land and the return of whooping cough.