Anti-vaxxers a danger in Canada

Afew weeks ago, the World Health Organization expressed great concern over the low rates of childhood immunization observed in some European countries. Research by medical anthropologist Emily Brunson revealed that more than a quarter of European residents currently identify with the so-called anti-vaxxer movement.

The anti-vaxxer movement is composed of people – in many cases, young parents – who systematically question the safety and effectiveness of childhood immunization and reject all scientific evidence associated with it.

The origins of the movement can be traced back to a study published in the weekly medical journal The Lancet in the late 1990s, which attempted to link childhood vaccination and autism.

The study’s assertions have long been debunked, but this has not stopped people from continuing to quote it as a scientific fact.

Advances in technology have allowed the anti-vaxxer movement to establish connections all over the world. Members are usually skeptical about government actions and prone to conspiracy theories – precisely the kind of speech that can reach a wider and dedicated audience online. Health authorities all over the world have had a difficult time dealing with this problem and the setbacks are evident.

A measles outbreak at the Disneyland Resort in California last year was widely covered by international media, yet countries like Italy have taken dramatic steps backward in the fight against childhood diseases.

The two major parties that serve in Italy’s current coalition government promised to abolish a compulsory vaccination law. As a result, children are no longer required to provide evidence of immunization in order to be enrolled in Italy’s public schools.

In Canada, the situation is not as dire as what is already developing in some European countries. But while we do not (currently) have political parties campaigning on the elimination of vaccines, there are specific pockets of the country where disinformation is palpable.

A Research Co. Canada-wide survey asked Canadians if vaccinations for children should be mandatory in their province. A staggering majority of residents (78 per cent) agreed that this should “definitely” or “probably” be the case.

But that leaves 18 per cent of Canadians – almost one in five – who believe parents should “probably” or “definitely” be the ones deciding whether their children should be vaccinated.

A further four per cent were undecided on the matter.

Quebec and British Columbia share the dubious distinction of having the largest proportion of residents who believe immunization should be up to the parents (22 per cent and 21 per cent respectively), followed by Alberta (18 per cent), Ontario and Atlantic Canada (16 per cent each) and Manitoba and Saskatchewan (15 per cent).

A separate question asked Canadians if they think there is a correlation between the childhood vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella and autism in children – the argument originally made in the discredited study published in The Lancet.

Across the country, almost one in four Canadians (23 per cent) said the correlation is “definitely” or “probably” real, including 25 per cent of residents in the two most populous provinces: Ontario and Quebec. The proportion was slightly lower in British Columbia (21 per cent), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (19 per cent) and Atlantic Canada (also 19 per cent).

At first glance, the numbers might not seem worrisome.

Almost four in five Canadians side with scientific evidence and concur with the notion of compulsory immunization for children.

But as was observed in Disneyland last year, a single unvaccinated child can cause an outbreak of massive proportions: 125 people infected, 500 more quarantined and a cost of US$2.3 million.

With almost one in five Canadians feeling that immunization is a decision that the parents should make by themselves, an outbreak could happen here. We have already had a confirmed case of measles in a Maple Ridge high school earlier this year.

The current state of affairs would suggest that Canada’s provincial health authorities should carry on with targeted information campaigns. As has been observed in other countries, one outbreak is too many.

Mario Canseco is the president of Research Co. and writes a column exclusive to Glacier Media newspapers.