Did the Anti-Vaccination Movement Cause the Whooping Cough Epidemic?

Whooping cough is making a comeback. This summer, the highly contagious upper respiratory infection struck more than 6,000 people in California -- the most cases since 1950. Ten people died, all infants.

What's shocking about the disease's resurgence is that we have a vaccine against pertussis, the bacterium that causes the disease, and it's very effective. But the disease is rearing its ugly head again because groups like the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) are spreading misinformation about the supposed dangers of childhood vaccines.

In California, which had one-third of all the whooping cough cases, reluctance to get the immunization stems from the intractable, erroneous beliefs about the dangers of vaccination. One public health official called the area the "epicenter of vaccine refusal," because schools let parents opt out of vaccinations for their kids for personal beliefs. It has the disease rates to prove it.

The stubborn belief that vaccines are harmful to a child's health show just how damaging -- even deadly--unscientific movements like the NVIC's are. And how wrong.

First of all, the NVIC's claim that vaccines cause autism is untrue. The Immunization Safety Office of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did a study of children born between 1994 and 1999 and found that there is no link whatsoever between inoculations and autism spectrum disorders. Over a dozen epidemiological studies have failed to find a link between autism and vaccines. In addition, the researcher that initially posited the theory of vaccines causing autism has had his originally study retracted and his medical license suspended.

On the other hand, there is a very strong link between refusing to vaccinate a child against an illness and the chance that the child will actually contract that illness.

And many parents still believe it's the mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, that causes autism, even though the whooping cough vaccine doesn't contain thimerosal.

Worse, not vaccinating children erodes the "wall of immunity" that keeps all kids safe from life-threatening diseases. When infections have fewer potential hosts, there is less of a chance that those infections will be able to spread from child to child. When kids are vulnerable to nasty germs -- because their parents don't immunize them -- they put their friends and classmates at risk, too.

Researchers have found that it's necessary to have at least a 93 percent vaccination rate to ensure "herd" immunity against pertussis, which will prevent whooping cough from rapidly spreading to unvaccinated people.

There is no reason not to vaccinate children, and every reason why we should. Do we really want to leave kids vulnerable to nasty illnesses like whooping cough, measles, polio, and smallpox because of unfounded fears about their safety? Why leave our kids vulnerable to illness if we can protect them instead?

The groups spreading the dangerous misinformation about vaccines should be held accountable -- and should publicly correct their mistakes. If they don't, they are helping to contribute to a public health disaster in the making. Tell the President of the National Vaccine Information Center, ground-zero for the anti-vax movement, to correct her erroneous and scientifically-unsound information by signing this petition.

Photo credit: Hygiene Matters