Immune to Influence

By TJ Ford
Theme Editor

This past December, an outbreak of the measles virus began at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The outbreak, which ended five months later on April 17, infected at least 156 individuals, according to the California Department of Public Health. The strain of the disease traces back to an identical strain that swept the Philippines, infecting over 58,000 and killing 110.

Measles was declared eradicated in the United States in 2000. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the amount of cases reported in January of 2015 alone top the amount of cases that have been reported in the last five years combined.

According to the Journal of American Medical Association’s Pediatrics division, the reason for the outbreak and its longevity can logically be traced back to the recent anti-vaccination trend among parents. In the years following 1963 and the introduction of the measles vaccination program, reported measles cases exponentially decreased – dropping from over 400,000 to under 50,000 in less than a decade. It is clear that the reason for the ultimate eradication of the disease is the undeniably effective measles vaccination, also known as the MMR shot.

Science has come a long way in the field and immunology, and vaccinations are one of the most effective means of protection from infectious diseases. However, qualms still exist as to their safety, leading to a growing trend of parents choosing not to vaccinate their children. This dangerous trend has the potential to lead to dangerous effects, including the recurrence of diseases thought to be eradicated for decades.

According to a recent JAMA Pediatrics study, herd immunity – the protection of a population of un-immunized individuals from diseases – can only be achieved if 96 to 99% of the exposed population is vaccinated. However, at the time of the Disneyland measles outbreak, investigators determined that vaccination rates among people exposed to the measles were anywhere between 50 and 86%, rates far lower than those necessary to preserve herd immunity. Clearly, the growing population of the anti-vaccination movement has led to an appreciable decline in herd immunity that has left the realm of statistical probability, causing the recent outbreak.

Vaccinations work by introducing the body to a weakened form of a disease to allow for the body to develop antibodies for the strain, so that when one comes in contact with the pathogen in the future, the body is adequately prepared to launch a full immune response and fight off the intruder.

However, the vaccine and the tenets upon which it stands have been recently under fire by an increasingly popular anti-vaccination movement that preaches the safety of remaining vaccine-free.

In past years, alleged correlations between immunizations and the supposed contraction of autism, among a multitude of other unsubstantiated, reaching claims, have fueled the anti-vaccine movement. However, individuals who prescribe to these strains of science-less dogma are unaware of the ramifications of their naive beliefs.

When a population is vaccinated adequately, the herd effect reduces the risk of infection spreading and an outbreak continuing. When a population is vaccinated to a point where on average, for each infected person, less than one other person is infected, herd immunity practically ensures the end of the diseases’ prevalence. This form of protection cannot exist, though, without others being immunized. Ignoring this basic fact of immunology is the biggest flaw of the anti-vaccination movement, and it leaves entire communities at risk.

The movement also relies on the idea that vaccinations are ineffective and somehow dangerous to the health of immunized individuals. Of each instance, though, of vaccines being introduced to populations in order to end rampant disease, the number of times vaccinations have led to infection rather than immunization can be counted on one hand, with the majority of cases gone wrong stemming from poor administration – not pharmological failure.

The personal preference of parents and families to choose not to inoculate their children is selfish and dangerous for the rest of the population. Immunization is the clear solution to the issue of infectious disease.