Let's All Stop Hating Anti-Vaxxers

With a measles outbreak of more than 120 cases in the US, ten cases in Quebec linked to an outbreak at Disneyland, and 16 cases in Ontario, parents who decide not to vaccinate their kids are under intense scrutiny. Coverage of "anti-vaxxers," as they're derisively referred to (that's rarely how they self-identify), is skeptical at best and outright hostile at worst. The overwhelming consensus about the utility of vaccines—in both the medical community and society at large—can lead to treating skeptical parties as though they've lost their grip on reality.

It's certainly an easy conclusion to reach for someone who does believe in the benefits of vaccines. After all, some of the commonly touted "evidence" against vaccinating is junk science, like the claims that vaccines cause autism (both untrue and incredibly offensive to people on the spectrum) and allergies.

But here's the thing: saying the scientific evidence marshalled in defence of not vaccinating is invalid is not the same as saying parents' motivations are without merit. This is something people in the pro-vaccination camp would do well to remember. In other words, parents who choose not to vaccinate their children are not monsters by virtue of making that decision. They are, just like everyone else, looking at a huge and terrifying world and trying to make the best of it that they can. The decision to vaccinate comes so easily to most of us, it hardly requires a second thought; because of that, many people seem to assume the decision not to vaccinate comes just as easily. Based on what Vaccine Choice Canada (VCC) board member Heather Fraser had to say, that's not the case.

As Fraser wrote in an email: "The majority of parents in VCC have a child who [was] injured by vaccines. Like me they have, naturally, asked questions and received no information from doctors."

"Vaccines are hands-down one of the most effective medical interventions that have ever been developed, scientifically and medically," said Dr. Vinita Dubey, an associate medical officer with Toronto Public Health. "So most doctors would point to vaccines and say they do so much good, there's no questioning them."

That standoffishness is the opposite of what public health officials like Dubey recommend, and it's a sticking point for many parents skeptical of vaccines.

Most of the concerns people have about vaccines, aside from the specific scientific ones, revolve around what they see as a medical industry unwilling to engage with them on any level. At the industrial level, they see pharmaceutical companies focused primarily on their business rather than the public interest. As individuals, they're frustrated that "side effects [are] not being told to every parent every time a vaccine is given," as a vaccine skeptic and childhood friend of mine said over Facebook message, and that doctors brush off their worries and questions.

Many of these concerns sound eminently reasonable as soon as you take the word "vaccine" out of the equation. The pharmaceutical industry is certainly no angel, and has put profits before peoplemany, many times. And the detached, cold bedside manner of many doctors is a well-known problem. So why treat these issues as beside the point when they're tied to vaccines? In reality, refusing to discuss these worries simply because so many of us view vaccines as an a priori good not only doesn't convince skeptics: it may well drive them further afield.

While vaccines are safe for the vast majority of those who receive them, there are still some people who experience side effects, and acting like that's not the case does nothing to assuage people concerned with those side effects. What's more, infants and young children become ill and sustain injuries all the time. A rash could seem to a parent to be vaccine-related when it's just a coincidence, but if they don't feel comfortable discussing that with their doctor, they'll never be convinced.

"We know through research that when individuals who have concerns about vaccines have a strong relationship with their primary care provider, health care provider, that it's through that relationship that they can get some of their needs met, their questions answered, and can often have some of their myths dispelled," said Dubey.

So if you're really, genuinely concerned about the threat unvaccinated people pose to society, take a look at the medical establishment that's alienating skeptical parents. And consider that Canada had a 95.2 percent immunization rate for measles, mumps, and rubella in 2011, so while immunization continues to be important, we aren't on the precipice of a pandemic (yet).

Education and dialogue will go farther in preventing vaccine avoidance than ridicule and vitriol, which just push people skeptical of vaccines toward each other and away from everyone else. When that happens, vaccine skeptics are more likely to insulate themselves from criticism and affirm each other's beliefs, even egging each other on.

"In some circles," writes one poster on the website Voices for Vaccines, "keeping your kids 'vaccine-free' entitles you to certain bragging rights. You are told that you are part of an elite, enlightened club. Even the phrase 'vaccine-free' has that whiff of health and purity—almost like saying 'drug-free.'"

Doctors are the best people to provide that dialogue, too. While it's certainly not solely their fault that some parents opt out of vaccinations, they are the ones with the best chance of convincing parents who may be on the fence. They can, if they choose, answer specific questions and allay parents' fears. It's a lot harder for Johnny Pro-Vaccination to do that from his Facebook page.

According to recent research, nearly 40 percent of Canadians harbour some skepticism about the science behind vaccines. Some of those people aren't going to change their mind no matter who talks to them or what evidence they're presented with, but for those who are still open to information, doctors are the people who will most likely convince them.

So again: if you want people to come back into the fold, the best thing for you to do is not mock individuals but to hold the medical establishment to account and demand they do a better job with people who express reservations about vaccines.

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