Vaccine resistance, also known as anti-vaccine or anti-vaxation, is an unwillingness or inability to be vaccinated or vaccinated against contagious disorders given the provision of vaccine facilities. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed it as one of the top ten public health challenges of 2019.
In this current situation, the responses from major players wear down a familiar path of conspiratorial thinking and government mistrust. Experts believe the phenomenon shows no hope to shift the minds of deep-seated skeptics of vaccines, especially in the midst of a worldwide pandemic that has now claimed more than 138,000 lives. On March 31, the White House coronavirus task force estimated that in the United States alone, 100,000 to 240,000 could die — and that’s despite attempts to curtail the spread of the virus. Public health authorities believe a vaccine is the only endgame that will allow citizens to restore their daily behaviors without restricted activity or meeting times. The planet remembers the dangers of infectious disease — more than 1,9 million people worldwide have been diagnosed — public health professionals see a chance to persuade those on the fence of the importance of vaccines. It is a time of chance to embrace vaccination, says Karen Ernst, Executive Director of Voices for Vaccines, a parent-led vaccination support organization. Adding that there may be a strong desire for a vaccine when it does arrive.
As scientists are working to create a vaccine to shield people against coronavirus, several vocal anti-vaccine activist activists are now trying to sabotage their attempts. “That there is a certain amount of denial, blame, and conspiratorial thinking.” Anti-vaccine sentiment also ties into an identity as much as belief. “These are people who make this part of their self-identity: I’m a mother, I have a natural lifestyle, I refuse vaccines. It’s important to deny things in order for that identity to be protected.” Says Reiss. Larry Cook, an anti-vaccine activist with almost 50,000 Youtube followers, wrote on Facebook: “Make no mistake, the purpose of the coronavirus is to help usher in vaccine mandates. Be woke. Know the Plan. Prepare. Resist.” The HighWire, a radio show hosted by film producer and vaccination protester Del Bigtree, made the unfounded argument that COVID-19 was developed in a laboratory and implied that it may have had something to do with the creation of vaccines. There is also a slew of conspiracies on Facebook groups that are geared towards vaccine skepticism.
Anti-vaccine activists are also rebranding themselves as “patient education advocates;” Protests against social distancing started in Michigan but with more planned, they have spread to state capitols in Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Maryland, Wisconsin and elsewhere. Most protests were small, limited to a few hundred people, or fewer.
Dr. Richard Pan, a pediatric and California representative for the state who has supported stricter vaccination laws, characterized anti-vaccine and anti-lockdown demonstrators as “essentially selfish” as they place others at risk. Both the anti-vaccine parents and others who wish to ease social distancing believe that if they are infected, the medical community will come to their rescue, said Pan, who remembered that thousands of health care workers died battling the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the CDC reports that social distancing steps — such as operating from home and eliminating large groups — are crucial to reducing coronavirus transmission and removing distracting hospitals from patients. Health officials agree that reopening the county would not be secure until extensive monitoring indicates the coronavirus has died down.
According to surveys, Americans are overwhelmingly supportive of vaccination and Kaiser Family Foundation polling found that 80 percent of Americans want lockdowns to continue. Only 19 percent said that social distancing orders placed an unnecessary economic burden. (Kaiser Wellness News is the foundation’s editorially neutral program.)
None of the anti-vaccine or anti-lockdown protesters represent the views of most Americans, Pan said.
“Let’s put this movement into proper context,” he said. “They’re loud, they’re noisy and they’re small.”
References
Gammon, Katharine, et al. “How the Anti-Vaccine Community Is Responding to Covid-19.” Undark Magazine, 17 Apr. 2020, undark.org/2020/04/16/anti-vaccine-covid-19/.
Georgiou, Aristos. “The Anti-Vax Movement Has Been Listed by WHO as One of Its Top 10 Health Threats for 2019.” Newsweek, 30 Jan. 2019, www.newsweek.com/world-health-organization-who-un-global-health-air-pollution-anti-vaxxers-1292493.
Mooney, Taylor. “Anti-Vaxxers Spread Fear about Future Coronavirus Vaccine.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 14 Apr. 2020, www.cbsnews.com/news/anti-vaxxer-fear-coronavirus-vaccine/.
Szabo, Liz. “Anti-Vaccine Activists Latch Onto Coronavirus To Bolster Their Movement.” Kaiser Health News, 24 Apr. 2020, khn.org/news/anti-vaccine-activists-latch-onto-coronavirus-to-bolster-their-movement/.
“Ten Health Issues WHO Will Tackle This Year.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019.
zyang12
June 24, 2020 — 6:44 pm
A good blog. Though reading your blog, I know more reasons about why there are so many people refusing vaccine. You also talk the relationship between vaccine and coronavirus. That is a good point.