Vaccine hesitancy threatens all
Vaccine hesitancy has long been a problem in the United States, particularly in California. Before the COVID pandemic, measles outbreaks among the unvaccinated were all too familiar in this state, which had one in 2015 linked to a visitor to Disneyland. In a little over a month, there were 125 cases of measles in seven states as well as Mexico and Canada — with 110 of them California residents. The vast majority of those who got sick, 88%, were unvaccinated or had unknown or undocumented vaccination status.
Anti-vaccine sentiment has only grown worse since COVID — and not just in California. A new bill being proposed in Idaho would criminalize administering mRNA vaccines, the same technology that effectively saved the country from the COVID pandemic.
We hope laws like this will never pass, but the anti-vaccine attitudes will remain a problem regardless. The World Health Organization recently declared vaccine hesitancy as a critical threat to global health.
According to a UCLA survey, 58.8% of Californians express at least some doubt regarding vaccination. That is higher than the estimation of vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. population, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. As vaccination rates decline, devastating childhood diseases that are entirely preventable through the use of safe and effective vaccines are making an unwelcome comeback.
There has been a rebirth of diseases that most of us thought no longer posed a risk. In the 1950s, the stark reality was that over 15,000 children were paralyzed by polio each year. Following the introduction of the polio vaccine in 1955, cases dropped by 99%. Yet, in July 2022 a man in New York state was paralyzed by the poliovirus, the first polio case in the U.S. in nearly two decades. He was not vaccinated.
Measles has also reared its ugly head once more. In November, 85 children in Ohio developed measles — 80 of them were unvaccinated, one was of unknown vaccination status and four were only partially vaccinated because they were too young to have received the full vaccine series.
The reasons individuals choose not to vaccinate are varied. Some people believe that vaccines or boosters don’t work because vaccinated people may still get sick. COVID vaccines were designed to prevent disease, and disease is not the same as infection. If a virus enters your lungs, it can infect you, but if you have been vaccinated, your immune cells act quickly to suppress the invader and either prevent the disease completely or make the course of the disease shorter and less severe. If you are unvaccinated, the virus and immune system begin an arms race until hopefully, the body is able to mount an immune response and defeat the virus, which can take days or even a week or more.
Others argue that the natural immunity you get following recovery from the infection is best. While natural infection does afford protection, it comes at the cost of potentially serious complications like measles encephalitis, long COVID or even death. Moreover, natural infections can cripple your immune system and leave you vulnerable to new infections. Lack of trust in our health care system also hinders rates of vaccination, which is particularly disheartening to physicians and nurses working tirelessly to help patients, and to scientists who dedicate their lives to developing lifesaving drugs, including vaccines.
While there have always been vaccine skeptics, the amazing speed with which the COVID-19 vaccine was developed and able to save so many lives may have inadvertently increased skepticism. The rapid spread of misinformation and 24/7 social media platforms give a bullhorn to vaccine deniers creating the illusion that they are a large coalition. Making matters worse, the growing political divide between Democrats and Republicans intensifies beliefs surrounding vaccinations, making the choice of whether or not to get a vaccine an open declaration of party affiliation.
There are certainly legitimate reasons for people not to be vaccinated. Valid medical exemptions from vaccination are accepted in every state. While California does not accept them, 44 states also allow religious exemptions and 15 states allow philosophical exemptions. This is despite many religions affirming the importance of vaccination, and the pope even saying that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is “an act of love.”
Philosophical exemptions are often justified with arguments for personal liberty and personal choice. While it is not anyone’s intention to infringe upon one’s liberty, preventing children from getting childhood vaccines withholds a life-saving intervention and puts other children at risk. To combat vaccine hesitancy, there must be more dialogue on vaccines in local communities. Cornell University is attempting to do just this with the STEM Community Education and Empowerment Internship, which connects students with their communities and encourages conversations about vaccine hesitancy. While a good first step, conversations can only go so far without more widespread efforts.
If laws continue to be enacted that seemingly improve personal liberty but erode public health policies that protect us all, everyone will suffer the consequences of contracting preventable diseases. Vaccination saves lives, but vaccine hesitancy is threatening the health of all Americans. When diseases go away, they should stay away.