Guru Prasad Mohanta
It is very disturbing that the fourth polio worker was killed in a week in Pakistan. Motorcycle-borne gunmen shot the female polio worker. This is the latest surge of violence in Pakistan against efforts to make world free of polio. The hardliners against vaccination say polio vaccine is a foreign ploy to sterilise Muslims. False reports were broadcast saying the vaccine made children sick. India, too, faced the spread of such misinformation. The myth that polio vaccine causes impotency was widespread in some communities in India and polio vaccination was viewed as a family planning strategy. The continuing persuasion, massive campaigns, involving religious leaders and celebrities, brought success and India was officially declared free of polio, a crippling childhood disease in 2014.
Several misperceptions are associated with measles vaccine such as measles vaccination can cause autism. Though many misperceptions contribute to the incomplete vaccination coverage, the vaccine’s association with autism has caused maximum damage to the vaccination programme globally. In one of the worst health crisis in United States, it has recorded more than 600 cases of measles this year alone since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000 in US.
A New York county hit by measles declared a state of emergency and banned non-vaccinated minors from public places to prevent the disease from spreading further. The worst-affected areas are those with high ultra–orthodox Jewish population. A local court’s injunction requiring county officials to drop the ban against any child with “religious exemption” complicated the immunisation coverage further. The ‘religious exemption’ became central to the debate over resurgence of measles and the rise of the anti-vaccine movement.
Though many misperceptions contribute to the incomplete vaccination coverage, the vaccine’s association with autism has caused maximum damage to the vaccination programme globally
The myth of MMR vaccine (measles in combination with mumps and rubella) surfaced in 1998 when a scientist suggested a link between MMR vaccine and autism and gastrointestinal disease. This received high media attention. Even though the original article was retracted by the journal for falsified data, the fear caused by this flawed information continues preventing people from immunisation against measles. Misinformed parents refuse to get the vaccine as required for the children. Indian newspapers are not behind. In a recent incident in Hyderabad, two infants died because of a goof up. Children were vaccinated but the health worker gave the wrong medicine to treat fever resulting from the vaccination, which caused death. One leading newspaper carried the news with the headline: “Two infants dead, 22 taken ill after vaccination.” Such headlines damage the vaccination programme.
We have forgotten the success of vaccination. Small pox has been eradicated from the world. Though all vaccines have potential side-effects, they are usually mild. The spread of misinformation or fake news about vaccine safety despite good evidence to the contrary, strengthens the anti-vaccine movement.
People of all ages are heavily influenced by the negative messages spread by newspapers, the internet and social media. A ‘British Medical Journal’ article published December 2018 said there were 480 anti-vaccine websites and that there has been a big silence on the pro-vaccine side. World Health Organization promotes the use of vaccines to protect the people of all ages against the diseases. In WHO’s words “Immunisation saves millions of lives every year and is widely recognised as one of the world’s most successful and cost-effective health intervention, yet there still are about 20 million unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children in the world”.
Since vaccination was introduced, a strategy to fight diseases, myths and misconceptions has been present. Studies have shown that addressing these is not easy. Merely reading a myth or even about the myth’s refutation does not weaken its influence; it strengthens it. Such is human’s psychology. With high global mobility of the people from one corner of the world to the other, the infective organism, too, can travel widely creating health risks to the vulnerable population. It is necessary to stop the spread of rumours and misinformation against use of vaccines and their safety — the main reason for vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy has been recognised as a public health threat and requires global strategy to improve coverage.
The writer is a professor of pharmacy, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu.