Media and Its Effects on Society

Many people who belong with the anti-vaccine movement are individuals who blame MMR (mumps-measles-rubella) vaccine for autism. It has now been found through several studies, that vaccines do not cause autism (Taylor, 2006). “In 2011 the vaccine-autism connection was described as “the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years”

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.

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).

In today’s society, we believe that everything is up for debate, and that every topic can be opinionated. We like to have the power to make our own choices regardless of facts, just because we feel the pressure of being told what to do. We are lazy to learn the truth, but yet we are ready to choose sides and strongly argue about it. We see it every day on the news, in politics, sports, social media, online forums, school, etc. In his article, “Not Up for Debate: The Science Behind Vaccination”, published in September of 2015, Professor Aaron E. Carroll argues that the issue with vaccinations is more than just choosing to do it or not. Carroll jumps right into his discussion of the “Not up for debate” regarding people’s claims tying vaccines to autism, the choice not to, and officials backing them up. He explains how this argument stems from incorrect information, inadequate studies and research, and poor education about the facts and data about the vaccines, which leads to the stubborn belief that vaccinations should be banned.

The topic of childhood vaccinations and the dangers that accompany them has been a topic of controversy in contemporary times. At the near edge of the twenty-first century, a man named Doctor Andrew Wakefield released a study which created a mass uproar in both parents and health professionals alike. Parents were panicked as to whether or not they should have their young child vaccinated (in fear of their acquiring autism), and health professionals fearful that the population percentage of people acquiring measles, mumps, or rubella (for it was the M.M.R. vaccination that the parents feared in particular) would rise to a number which would lead to a mass risk of disease. Despite Wakefields’ study, the truth persists in all types of experiments related to vaccination. Whether being tested in a replication of Wakefields’ study or in any other, vaccines have been proven to work at preventing disease and display no causation of autism.

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 recent years more and more parents have become misled by fallacious claims towards vaccinations which have caused for a decrease in childhood vaccinations for preventable diseases cause side effects such as autism and sudden infant death syndrome. The study that influenced many parents to not vaccinate their children was done by Andrew Wakefield, and his study claimed that vaccines such as Measles, Mumps, and

Wakefield published a study on the effects of the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)-vaccine, specifically the “mercury” based and the vaccine instigating the onset of autism (Wakefield para 3). Wakefield’s study involved 12 individuals whose medical background was altered in order to support his study (Goodlee para 2). After 12 years of Wakefield’s research being published, his findings were found to be inaccurate. Many doctors and scientists alike have proven his theory wrong, causing the magazine that published the article to fully retract it (Goodlee para 2). However, the damage caused by Wakefield’s false findings has yet to be undone. The number in vaccinations dropped and the number of deadly diseases ultimately rose (Goodlee para 8). Despite study after study proving that Wakefield blatantly falsified his findings, many parents including, celebrities like Jenny McCarthy, continue to advocate against vaccinations and blame the MMR-vaccine for her child’s autism diagnosis.

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,

Andrew Wakefield and other 12 co-authors published a study in the Lancet in 1998 that suggested a relationship between measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and autism. In other words, Wakefield and associates suggested that the vaccine for MMR could predispose children to autism. The paper received massive publicity despite the researchers having used a sample size that was not representative (n=12), the research design was uncontrolled as well as conclusions being speculative (Sathyanarayana Rao & Andrade, 2011). Consequently, the vaccines for MMR plummeted since parents feared that vaccinating their children against MMR could predispose their children to autism.

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.

Now, as stated above, misinformation fuels the anti-vaccination movement. The largest source of said misinformation is the abundance of zany conspiracy theories that pervade the Internet. Although there are many stories vaccination opponents cling to, the primary source of modern falsehoods is a fraudulent article published in 1998 by Dr. Andrew Wakefield in The Lancet, a renowned peer-reviewed medical journal. In his article, Wakefield described how his research showed a correlation between the onset of autism symptoms in children and the injection of the mumps, measles, and rubella vaccine. However, as Wakefield was found to have a slew of undeclared conflicts of interest and heavily manipulated results, The Lancet fully retracted his article in 2010, and his medical license was revoked (Douglas et al, 2014). At this point, however, the damage had already been done. The media carelessly circulated stories about Wakefield’s now-discredited article using sensationalist, fear-mongering headlines. The remnants of this massive reporting blunder now float in cyberspace like asteroids, colliding with parents worried about the safety of their children. These “asteroids” often convince naïve parents that childhood vaccinations are dangerous by implementing vicious scare tactics. Needless to say, nobody

In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield published a paper that linked the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the appearance of autism. This paper ignited widespread panic of the so-called dangerous side effects of common vaccines. In 2004, after an investigation, it was found that his paper was fraudulent and Wakefield was found guilty of misconduct and was subsequently removed from the UK medical register. Unfortunately, in 2017, many people still believe that vaccines cause dangerous side effects and refuse to vaccinate themselves and their children. Certain celebrities have pushed this false narrative and caused the anti-vaccine movement to spread even further. Despite a multitude of evidence people have taken this wonderful science for granted

Many getting treated will still have the peril of acquiring a disease because of the terrifying number of people going around unvaccinated. The anti-VAX group’s suspicion is making it difficult to find a solution that could find a way out of the ditch already created. Many people in the anti-VAX group believe that many vaccines have the capabilities of causing things such as autism. Great Britain debunked this theory after being published in the journal Lancelet and the lead author of this article, Andrew Wakefield, lost his medical license in 2010. However, as the years went along, the fear of life-saving vaccines took hold of millions of parents. Due to the suspicions created by the anti-VAX group, the lack of trust in America’s doctors is near the bottom of all the industrial countries: 24th out of 29 countries surveyed. Recent research has found that those who have the least faith in the government are the least likely to vaccinate in the case of an outbreak of

Only nine weeks after he was born, Brady Alcaide was buried, his tiny body unrecognizable from the effects of whooping cough. At first, the vaccine-preventable illness seemed like a common cold, but a trip to the hospital revealed otherwise. Brady and his family are just some of the people suffering because of decreased vaccination rates. The anti-vaccine movement was started with the release of a study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield in 1998. The study showed data that supports the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine is linked to a higher risk of autism in children. Because of this study, some parents are choosing to stop vaccinating their kids, even though the study is continually