Vaccine Hesitancy

By: Ashrika Dudeja

Topics
01 What is a Vaccine?
Four types of vaccines, vaccine preventable diseases

02 Vaccine Refusal
Increased number of parents refusing to vaccinate their children

03 Reasons/Myths
Common misbeliefs and reasons causing parents to refuse vaccines

04 Falling Immunization Rates

Researchers are linking falling immunization rates to the
resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases
What is a vaccine?

A vaccine is a
biological substance
used to produce
antibodies to prevent
a particular infection
and provide
immunity against
diseases.
 4 Types of Vaccines

Subunit, recombinant,
Live-attenuated Inactive Vaccines polysaccharide, and Toxoid Vaccines
vaccines conjugate vaccines

Killed version of Use specific piece Use toxin made

Weakened form of of disease causing
disease causing by disease
the disease causing germ such as the
germ causing germ
germ protein, sugar, or
capsid
 Vaccine Preventable
Diseases

● Diphtheria ● Influenza (Flu)

● Haemophilus influenzae ● Polio
type b (Hib) ● Rubella (German
● Human Papillomavirus Measles)
(HPV) ● Rotavirus
● Hepatitis A ● Tetanus
● Hepatitis B ● Varicella (Chicken Pox)
● Measles ● Meningococcal
● Mumps Infections
● Pertussis (Whooping ● Pneumococcal Infections
Cough)

In 2018, hospitalized influenza was the most commonly reported

VPD with 178 cases (65.7%), followed by pertussis with 37 cases
(13.7%), chickenpox with 24 cases (8.9%), hepatitis B with 23 cases
(8.5%), hepatitis A with six cases (2.2%), and mumps with three
cases (1.1%)
 Reasons Behind
Parents Refusal of
Vaccines
Religious Reasons
Parents offer for choosing not to
vaccinate their children stems from
their religious beliefs. It is very
difficult to dissuade these individuals
from their views against
immunization.
Personal Beliefs
People see benefit in having
their children contract certain
preventable diseases claiming
that natural immunity is better.
Misconceptions
The most common reason is
misconceptions or misbeliefs
Safety Concerns developed through the years
These concerns are based on about vaccines.
information parents receive
from the media about
vaccinations, raising doubts
about both short-term and long-
lasting negative effects.
 Misconceptions/Myths

Myth #3: Myth #5: Myth #6:

Myth #1: Myth #2: Natural Myth #4: Vaccines can Myth #7:
Better hygiene
Infant immune immunity is Vaccines with the Infection rates
Vaccines and sanitation
systems can’t better than contain are responsible disease its are already so
Cause
handle so vaccine- unsafe toxins for decrease trying to low in the US
Autism many vaccines acquired infections prevent
immunity
 Myth #1: Vaccines Cause Autism
Wakefield and 12 co-authors
claimed they found evidence of the
measles virus in digestive systems of
children who had exhibited autism
symptoms after receiving the MMR
vaccination
1995
1998
British researchers published study
in the Lancet showing individuals
who have been vaccinated with the
measles-mumps-rubella vaccine
were more likely to have bowel
disease
● Gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield believed a persistent infection
with the vaccine caused disruption of the intestinal tissue which in
turn led to bowel disease and neuropsychiatric disease (autism)
● These publications caused parents in Britain and the United States
to delay or completely refuse vaccinating their children
● In the next 12 years, no link between MMR and bowel disease or
MMR and autism was found, the paper was discredited due to
procedural errors, undisclosed financial conflicts of interest, and
ethical violations
○ It is believed that Wakefield’s research was funded by lawyers
who hoped to sue vaccine manufacturers on behalf of parents of
children with autism
○ He lost his medical license and the paper was retracted from the
Lancet
From recent research it is evident that autism develops in utero,
before a baby is born or receives any vaccinations
 13 methodologically sound, controlled epidemiological
studies reporting no association between autism spectrum
disorders (ASD) and the MMR vaccine
 Myth #2: Infant Immune
Systems Can’t Handle So Many
Vaccines
● Infant immune systems have an increased
number of antibodies in their blood which
gives them the ability to respond to around
10,000 vaccines at one time

● Since the cells are constantly being

replenished, the immune system could never
truly be overwhelmed

Infants are exposed to countless bacteria

and viruses every day and need
immunization to prevent infections
 Myth #3: Natural Immunity Is Better Than
Vaccine-Acquired Immunity

● Parents believe that by actually catching a disease

and getting sick there is an increased chance that
the immune system will be better off in fighting
the disease next time around

These preventable diseases are serious or life-

threatening and are not easily treatable
 Myth #4: Vaccines Contain
Unsafe Toxins

● Vaccines contain formaldehyde, mercury, and

aluminum which at certain levels are toxic to the human
body but only trace amounts are used in FDA approved
vaccines

● According to the FDA and the CDC, our body produces

formaldehyde at a higher rate than we get from
vaccines and there is no evidence that low levels of
mercury or aluminum can be harmful
 Myth #5: Better Hygiene and Sanitation are Actually
Responsible for Decreased Infections, Not Vaccines

● Better sanitation, nutrition, and development of antibiotics helps fight off infectious
diseases along with vaccines
○ Vaccines cannot be denied with a higher rate of infectious disease and isolated
factors

● There was a steady rate of infection in 1963 when the measles vaccine was first
introduced - 400,000 45%
cases a year 80%
○ Hygienic habits and sanitation didn’t change much
○ Introduction of the vaccine caused rate of infection to decrease (25,000 cases by
1970) Contents Title
Myth #6: Vaccines Can Infect My Child With
the Disease It’s Trying to Prevent

● Symptoms seen after getting a vaccination may resemble

those of the disease the vaccine is protecting against but
the symptoms do not signal infection
○ Caused by body’s immune response to vaccine not
the disease itself
○ OPV - only vaccine shown to cause disease, no
longer used in the US
 ● Large majority of people still need to be
immunized in order for the
unimmunized population to be protected
○ With enough resistance, the disease
Myth #7: We Don’t Need will be unable to establish and
to Vaccinate Because spread
Infection Rates Are ● Viruses and other bacteria could spread
Already So Low in the if too many people don’t vaccinate
themselves or their children
United States ● International travel may also increase
threat of a disease
 Falling Immunization
Rates
Researchers link falling immunization rates to recent resurgence
of vaccine-preventable diseases

2010 - California CDC (Center for

Disease Control) warns
9,120 cases of that events like these
whooping cough were will become more
seen, more than any frequent and harder to
year since vaccines were control if vaccine rates
introduced in 1940s continue to fall

10 infants too
young to be
vaccinated died
during outbreak
 some vaccine-
preventable diseases,
like the measles, are
making a comeback

Anti-vaccination propaganda and

vaccine misinformation have
persuaded small but growing number
of parents that vaccines designed to
immunize against infection diseases
pose a greater health risk than the
diseases themselves
 Measles
A virus that invades the nose and throat, causing
fever, cough or phlegm

Measles vaccine
introduced to US, Measles was limited
decreased annual completely in
measles case count America
from four million to
zero in four
decades

1963 2000
 ”The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention has logged at least
six measles outbreaks so far this
year, across five states, involving
more than 100 patients.”

2 in New York State

More than 310 cases have been reported in the US so far compared
to 372 for all of 2018.
 Actions Taken to Prevent
Outbreaks
97% of people have
been immunized Both houses of Congress have held
1
against measles and hearings to discuss the issue
other vaccine-
preventable diseases States considered limiting vaccine
but the 3% that have 2
exemptions for school-age children
not are increasing
risks. Several prominent social media platforms have
3 pledged to block anti-vaccine propaganda and
vaccine misinformation from their sites
 Awareness Consequences Importance
Key
Points
There are many The recent outbreaks and Most Americans
misconceptions and infections have proven recognize vaccines as
myths associated with that the majority of a crucial element of
vaccinations. Because individuals who are personal and public
of this, it is vital to getting vaccinated are health. Some
spread awareness facing consequences infections and
about how safe because of the people who diseases can be life
vaccines are and let refuse to get vaccinated threatening if not
parents know that and spread the infection. treated correctly and
vaccinations are As these consequences vaccinations play a
important for their will only get worse, we key role in the
child and cannot be have to ensure that we prevention of such
missed. decrease vaccination diseases.
refusal.
Thank You