As time continues to pass, our society continues to develop new ideas that question the authority and rules set in place. Recently, there is an issue that is gradually gaining attention from the public, that of  which is the Anti-Vaccination Movement. The Anti-Vaccination Movement itself, is an act where individuals in society deem that vaccines are unnecessary to the population. Activists of this movement have made a tremendous impact on health care workers and public through the use of the internet where they spread misleading ideas about the movement itself (Davies, Antivaccination activist on the world wide web). This of which has caused outbreaks of illnesses and distrust in health care professionals. The words that the public believe are heavily misguided, which is why the arguments made by the anti-vaccinationist activists will be put to question. These questions involving the foundation of vaccines, vaccine ingredients, vaccine repercussions, mistrust in authorities, and the logic against the use of vaccines.  

To first understand the war against vaccines is to first understand vaccines themselves. The majority of the population only see vaccines as a one time shot that allows them to become immune to the virus. And as simple as that sounds, the vaccine is not that easy where one can assume that they are instantly safe from everything. The vaccine itself is a substance that is put into the body, typically in the form of an injection. Inside the substance consist of a weakened form of the virus and/or other weakened viruses. With, this weakened strain of the virus, allows the body is able to produce antibodies and helper T-cells that help fight against this specific virus strain (World Health Organization, Vaccines). Therefore, when the body comes in contact with the virus in its stronger form, there are antibodies ready that will recognize this exact strain and will defend against it right away. 

With countless rumors of harmful ingredients in the vaccine, there has never been talk of what they are and what they do. The specific ingredients found in the flu vaccine are egg protein, preservatives, stabilizers, antibiotics, polysorbate 80, and formaldehyde (Healthline, What ingredients are in the Flu shot?). It does sound odd that things such as formaldehyde, polysorbate 80, and thimerosal are found in the vaccine, when they could possibly pose for health risks, but there are specific reasons why each of these ingredients are involved in the vaccine. First, the majority of flu vaccines are made by growing the viruses in fertilized chicken eggs which means that there are small amounts of egg protein found within the vaccine. The egg protein does pose for allergy risks, and warned against by doctors before administering the vaccine to patients.  In recent studies, there are new versions grown in other animal cells, called Flucelvax. Then the manufacturers who make the vaccine, add a preservative thimerosal to multidose vaccine vials to prevent dangerous bacteria and fungi from ruining the vials. Mercury has been found in the thimerosal and  is most commonly known to be a metal that induces neurological and behavioral disorders if a human is exposed to it. However, since the discovery of this metal in thimerosal, mercury has been extracted from vaccines in 1999. Even with this metal being taken out, there were still uproars of the ingredients in the vaccine that made children develop some neurological disorders, such as autism. With many claims of children developing autism after being vaccinated, there has been twice as many researches on the ingredients, and the aftermath of vaccinated children and there has been no correlation to the disorders with the amounts of each ingredients found in the vaccine that was given to a child (CDC, Thimerosal in Vaccines). Stabilizers are also found within the vaccine which is used to keep the vaccine stable. Sucrose being just sugar, sorbitol being an artificial sweetener, and MSG as a flavor enhancer prevent the loss of potency of the vaccine when it is exposed to heat and light. Antibiotics are also found, such as neomycin, gentamicin, and a few others which stop the bacteria from contaminating the vaccine. Another element found in vaccines is Polysorbate 80, which is an emulsifier that keeps all the ingredients evenly distributed. Formaldehyde is the last thing found in vaccines, and this natural compound is used to inactivate virus toxins. All of these ingredients are vital and completely necessary for the vaccine to do its job correctly, and help provide immunity to our population. 

However, even after receiving a vaccine, there are a few things that one should be careful of. Vaccines do contain the most prevalent weakened strain of a virus which can still dangerous. With that being said, viruses change constantly because as a prokaryotic, the virus is susceptible to countless mutations over time (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Viruses and Evolution). Since the virus mutates frequently, this explains the reason why there is a new flu vaccine every season, Each vaccine will help one become immune to that specific virus during that season. Even after receiving the vaccine, one is still at risk of getting sick with that virus because the body has not had the proper amount of time to fight the weakened virus and provide the antibodies that will fight a virus at its full power (University of Oregon, Immunization Questions). The body then is also more susceptible to other diseases, such as pneumonia. At this time, since the body is having to focus most of its energy and resources into accepting the works of the vaccine, it is recommended to have a two-week period where one is careful and is able to take good care of their bodies. 

Many people say they experience bad symptoms and side effects of the vaccine and some would even go far as to say that they got the virus after receiving the vaccine. There is a precaution when getting a vaccine which could include soreness, swelling, low fevers and aches (NHS, Vaccine Side Effects). Most of these side effects should only last for one or two days but many people tend to mistake these symptoms for symptoms of the actual virus itself. There are have also been cases where these symptoms could be a part of an allergic reaction. Talk of the immune system becoming weaker after receiving the vaccine is also a large topic but it is only the body getting weaker after being injected with the vaccine because of all the focused energy in created an immediate cell response against the virus. 

There are still a great deal of people who think that there is lack of evidence that a flu vaccine is necessary, this then prevents them from vaccinating themselves and their children. With studies shown on the internet or news constantly appearing that say that vaccinations do not provide immunization , it is incredibly difficult to not instantly believe what others say. And with words like “In a systematic review of 51 studies involving 260,000 children,” it sounds as if the provided statistics are reliable. However, with 51 studies that prove against vaccines, there have been thousands of studies that prove that vaccinations are necessary, which very well put these studies only at a 1% reliability. Then to compare with the amount of children that were under these studies, (260,000) to the tens of millions of children that were in the studies conducted that helped prove vaccines are not harmful, there is a less than 1% accuracy. To look at these cases individually, many of them have been reconciled or debunked for that matter, and to say the very least, most of the problems in the experiments come with the ethicality of all the studies and how they chose to study the children. 

Mentioning the evidence provided in all the published medical journals, it is important to look at each individual one and determine the value of it. One of the largest and most popular  published journal that made this movement take flight was written by Andrew Wakefield. In his experiment, he tested the correlation between the flu vaccine and the development of autism. To conclude the study, he determined that children became autistic after they were vaccinated. However in his experiment, there were many flaws within this study that were quickly overlooked (Sathyanarayana Rao, The MMR vaccine and autism: Sensation, refutation, retraction, and fraud). One, the experiment he performed consisted of taking blood samples from children at his own son’s birthday party without consent and then compensating the parents after the experiment was done, this of which is very unethical. With the small amount of data that he collected, he determined that the vaccine indeed was the cause of autism, but with 14 children tested, there was no evidence with statistical significance that allowed him to prove his conclusion. After he finished his experiment, the data that he collected did not match up to what he concluded with. With autism, there is an ‘autistic scale’ which ranges from mildly autistic to severely autistic and with this scale,  Wakefield was able to record more “autistic” children than there actually was. In the end, his paper was published and taken seriously where more and more people started to think and doubt vaccines to the point where they started to blame vaccines as the cause of their child’s autism. He also tried sueing a vaccination company in order to receive money which brought him his name and rise to fame. So, to this day, there is more casual conversation about his work.  His published report was eventually repealed and deemed unreliable and Wakefield had his medical license revoked. However, even though this study was proven to be false, there are still people who know of this article without knowing what became of him and his work after all the flaws were found. Therefore, there are still constant questions and skepticism regarding vaccines. To this day, without his license, Wakefield continues to pursue his belief, where he has made a movie about the anti-vaccination movement called “Vaxxed.” This film portrays his revoked experiment alongside parents who share his cause. So even though, medical journals are supposed to be dependable and respectable because they are made and reviewed by healthcare professionals, that doesn’t entirely mean that one should wholeheartedly trust the paper before reviewing other sources. 

On the other hand, there are many concerns of which ages that vaccinations are supposed to help, given all the side effects that have been found after receiving the vaccine. With the known side effects, many parents still complain about their child  developing pneumonia, ear infections, and bronchiolitis. It is completely plausible that when children are first vaccinated, their immunity is lowered for the time being. This is because their body is very sensitive when it is trying to fight the virus, so that by the next time they are exposed to the virus, they are immune. However, since children are smaller and younger, and their immune systems are not entirely developed, which could mean induced side effects may seem worse which is normal since the symptoms will eventually go away after battling the foreign pathogen in the body. 

Then on the other side of the spectrum, it questions if vaccines are safe for the elderly. With a study saying that vaccines have caused Alzheimer’s in patients older than 60 and that when getting continuous flu shots for 3 to 5 years, there is a ten-fold chance of developing this disease. However, there has only one study conducted that has concluded this, so with no study that it compares to, there is very little evidence to conclude anything drastic. This one study, also provides very little information behind this conclusion, so without other experiments and studies done, there is nothing to say that there is an increase chance of getting the flu. However, there are still claims of vaccines making the immune system weaker and lowering the ability to fight off infections. If this was in fact true, these symptoms would only last for a short while after the vaccine is administered. If the fear of getting the virus is less than the fear of an immensely small chance of developing these illnesses, than the elderly should not risk getting a vaccine. There are other cases that have said that the vaccine could also cause other illnesses, and in the worse case, death. Whichever the choice, it is entirely dependent on the person and what they think is the greater evil. 

Anti-vaccination activist also think that the authorities who enforce laws that require immunizations are involved with other certain things. The most important law that requires vaccination is a federal law that requires children to be vaccinated before they are allowed to be enrolled in public schools. This law is made by the CDC, Center for Disease Control, by the appointed ACIP, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, who are responsible for deciding the laws and requirements for vaccination (CDC, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices). The committee is made up of doctors and professionals who are knowledgeable in vaccinology, immunology, pediatrics, internal medicine, nursing, family medicine, virology, public health, infectious disease, and/or preventive medicine, and to be appointed to this position, they are selected through an application and nomination process by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. All of these people certainly have the skill and knowledge to be able to decide for the population and through their many years of schooling and the time, they have given up in their life in order to be able to serve others and care for others (Tafuri, Addressing the anti-vaccination movement and the role of HCWs). Even with that in mind, many people are still skeptical of those on the ACIP because of the financial investment in vaccinations, which could seem as if the ACIP are on this board for the money. With suspicion in the air, there is also a doubtful attitude towards the effectiveness of vaccines. There is always that other argument where vaccines could be less costly if there were not any financial investments, but that is an entirely different conversation to be made. In the end, the ACIP is a the committee that is a democracy as well which represents the population. 

A great deal of people also do not believe in herd immunity which is the largest reason why immunization is important. The theory of herd immunity is that when the majority of a population is vaccinated and immune to a disease, than the little of those who are not able to be vaccinated are still protected from the virus because of its inability to infect anyone (HHS, Community Immunity). With herd immunity implanted within a population, there is very little chance of the virus becoming an epidemic. However, with the anti-vaccination movement gaining momentum, there have been outbreaks of diseases and viruses that have thought to be eradicated, such as the mumps and measles. Places such as Washington have reported abnormally large cases of these diseases, noting that these are the more heavily populated areas, meaning that there is also a larger anti-vaccination activist population within these cities as well (Nunnally, Mumps outbreak in Washington worse in years). These outbreaks are quite frightening now because of the growth of these epidemics since the start of the 21st century, which mean that it can only grow. 

In order to preserve our society, we must first protect the health of our population. To start that, we must also educate our population on why each thing is put in place. The laws put in place are there help maintain our population as well as protect us from ourselves. The law that states vaccination as a requirement to be enrolled in public school is not entirely set in stone. The law can be bypassed if a student provided a medical reason as to why they are not vaccinated. To educate our people, Texas has proposed a bill allows children to be exempted from vaccination if they parents are present and are informed by a doctor as to why vaccines are critical to the child’s health (Zeller, Proposed bills aim to educate anti-vaccine parents). After the information is given to the parent, they are then allowed to make their own judgement and then deny vaccination of their child. This bill forces education which is a very important step in determining whether they should vaccinate. 

As of now, vaccination is implied by law, but as time goes on, the anti-vaccination movement continues to grow, with intentions of vaccination as a choice. The relationship between a doctor and a patient is extremely important, therefore maintaining that trust has been gradually getting difficult over the years with new findings that are not backed up by doctors (Holt, The importance of the patient voice in vaccination and vaccination safety - are we listening). Therefore with the respect of doctors still in tact, it is important that people as patients understand the risks of their own actions. However, with the process of vaccinations, ingredients of vaccines, rumors of the vaccines, risks and dangers of being vaccinated, and the outcome of vaccines explained, the choice still remains in the hands of the people and what they chose to do. 