Vaccines.
One little world, yet so much controversy around it. The height of the controversy was at its largest approximately 2-3 years ago; however, the belief that it may cause autism is still something that some parents argue as their reasoning behind why they will and do not vaccinate their children. I still see some people including some parents occasionally share that "Vaccines cause Autism" post that ends up circulating around facebook. Somewhere down the argument reasoning, it usually turns into the "herd immunity" discussion where some individuals believe that because everyone else is immunizing their children, those who don't want to risk their kids getting autism due to a vaccine shouldn't have to. Some parents will even go as far as to say that because most other children are immunized, that disease/virus/bug will not get to their child. However, sometimes whether or not someone gets the disease/virus/bug is not dependent on the vaccine but the environment that the child may be exposed to. Sometimes it is as easy as stepping on a rusty nail or a puncture wound that can cause a tetanus infection. It's not like a parent can guarantee that their child will not step on a rusty nail because that is a false promise to make. No one is able to watch their child 24/7 and catch them from falling, slipping, stepping on things, etc. The best defense against tetanus is getting the vaccine. I simply don't understand how some parents can argue against this. That being said, getting vaccine sure does lower the risk of getting sick with that particular virus/disease because one's immune system was already exposed to either the attenuated or inactivated form of the virus.
On the topic relation to a vaccine's relation to the development of autism, there is no evidence currently available that illustrates that this is the case. The reason why this exploded into the problem that it became was because of one incorrect study that got published with an inappropriate finding of a relationship between children that got vaccinated and those that got diagnosed with autism shortly after. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that the age at which most parents start to notice autism signs in their children is in the same ballpark as the age when most children can start getting some of the vaccine series. Based on this finding, the previous study was retracted as it was found that the data, conclusions, and other study sub-sections were indeed incorrect. Even though this study was retracted, some parents remain skeptical on the idea of vaccinating their children. What they do not realize is that they may cause more harm than benefit to their child by not vaccinating them.
The most impactful questions that now remain in my mind are 1) How do we prevent a situation like this from happening again? and 2) How do we educate parents better so that they see and understand the benefit of vaccination?
The steps that I am planning on taking to at least address part of question 2 is by hosting a vaccine panel for graduate students living at Munger where healthcare professionals will discuss and address this controversy, the myths, and the facts that are associated with vaccinations. This panel will also be followed up by a flu clinic a couple of weeks later. My reasoning is that at least the future generation of parents will be able to learn more evidence-based information on this topic and make their own conclusions. Hopefully, a decision to vaccinate their children in the future.
Here is a funny video that I found very interesting that goes along with this: https://www.popsugar.com/moms/Young-Boy-Evidence-Vaccines-Cause-Autism-41497035
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