The consequences of the anti-vax movement
Sadly, children are going to pay the cost of all this misinformation
Earlier this week, Southern Alberta health officials announced that 24 pertussis cases have recently been identified. While there have been no deaths, three children have been hospitalized.
Also known as the whooping cough, the bacterial disease has long been known as the “100-day cough” due to the length of time that symptoms last. While death can ensue, many children will endure three to four months of violent coughing. Some cases result in broken ribs and vomiting given due to the persistence and strength of all that hacking.
What’s most troubling about this recent outbreak is that the pertussis vaccine has been in circulation since the 1940s. As with every vaccine, it’s not a bulletproof intervention. Rates of efficacy hover between 71-85%. The vaccine has saved millions of lives over the decades.
As it turns out, this region of Canada is experiencing particularly low vaccination rates in children. This follows a national trend in America as well, where kindergarteners are being vaccinated at lower rates for two consecutive years.
An estimated 275,000 kindergarteners are not fully vaccinated.
The Alberta outbreak is only the beginning of what promises to be more outbreaks should this trend continue.
The Wakefield Legacy
Ben Collins was not feeling optimistic this week.
The comments in his thread feature a range of views. Some feel that it’s isolated to the COVID vaccines, which is true—in part. Anti-vax fervor has certainly swung some vaccine skeptic over. Part of it also depends on how you define“won.”
If Collins means “reduced vaccinations,” the data are on his side.
And it really is a decades-long battle. I’ve been writing about the anti-vax movement for at least 10 years. While I couldn’t have imagined the strength of the movement before a global pandemic hit, I’m not particularly surprised at where we’ve landed.
What’s so troublesome is how out in the open it all is. The roots of the modern anti-vax movement can be traced back to one man and his grift.
To recap, Andrew Wakefield, the disbarred physician who claimed vaccines cause autism (while trying to monetize his own jabs which miraculously didn’t cause autism), is responsible for kicking off the current incarnation of anti-vaxxers.
And yet, as is all publicly known:
The 12 children in Wakefield’s retracted study were handpicked—antithetical to clinical research
Wakefield falsified the results from pediatricians
Wakefield used microscopic-level stains; a more reliable molecular method found nothing
The parents lied about their children’s symptoms and conditions
While raging against the vaccine, Wakefield filed for two patents on single measles shots
Doesn’t matter. As has been well-documented, misinformation moves faster than corrections on the internet. Wakefield will remain a hero for generations to come, and his legacy will result in untold ailments and death—none of which will he take responsibility for.
He didn’t own up the 2015 measles outbreak that was directly related to his MMR vaccine fear-mongering. He’ll continue his “activism” as the movement he helped create continues to grow.
And, sadly, it’s the children who will pay the heaviest fine.