Rising vaccine hesitancy

March 2019: Falling MMR vaccination rates result in rising measles outbreaks, increasing child mortality rates, and a significant cost increase for public health systems. Underlying causes for rising vaccine hesitancy are populism, marginalised communities distrusting elites or experts, and economic inequality in disenfranchised communities.

Information

There is a sharp drop in global vaccination rates and UK rates fell from 92% in 1995 to a low of 79% in 2003, which is below the 95% threshold needed to achieve ‘herd immunity’.  Consequentially, measles outbreaks and child deaths from MMR are rising. However, new scientific evidence strongly supports that there is no risk of MMR vaccinations triggering autism. Autism is often cited by parents as reason to reject inoculation. The evidence coincides with a study published in the European Journal of Public Health linking vaccine hesitancy with a rise of populism across Western Europe. The study shows that scientific populism is similar to political populism and defined by disenfranchised or marginalised groups distrusting elites and experts such as public health experts and pharmaceutical companies advocating vaccines. This sentiment remains even if programmes would objectively improve the health of target communities.

Implications & Opportunities

Online misinformation about vaccination and anti-vaccine sentiments amongst communities can lead to a continuous fall of vaccination rates. Even a 5 per cent reduction in vaccination rates would triple measles cases and could lead to significant economic costs for public health systems and increase child mortality rates. Further, while online platforms such as Amazon, Facebook, Pinterest, and Google could aid in restricting the online spread of vaccine misinformation and remove anti-vaccine content, recent efforts of curbing anti-vaccine information online have drawn critique from anti-vaccine groups and parents under the umbrella of censorship and limiting free speech. Vaccine hesitancy will be difficult to resolve without addressing underlying causes of populism, marginalised communities, and economic inequality. Therefore, finding more scientific evidence that underlines the dangers of anti-vaccine sentiments and the safety of MMR vaccinations will most likely not be sufficeint to encourage higher vaccination rates.

Limitations

While there are global reports of falling vaccination rates and increased measles outbreaks, the study focuses only on Western Europe. Further, quantifying scientific populism and anti-vaccine sentiments in marginalised groups is challenging and methodologies may vary between studies.

Sources

Kennedy, J. (2019). Populist politics and vaccine hesitancy in Western Europe: an analysis of national-level data. European Journal of Public Health. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckz004 

The New York Times. (2019). One more time, with big data: Measles vaccines doesn’t cause autism. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/health/measles-vaccine-autism.html