Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism, Essay Example

It is extraordinary to note, after reading Heyworth’s  “Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism,” how merely a few isolated statements may reverse long decades of convictions firmly in place in society.  This is essentially the scenario with how and why parental fears of autism are generating setbacks in children’s immunization.  Vaccines have a long and crucial history as literally life-saving measures, and the list of diseases from which children have been safe is impressive.  This would suggest that the public trust in vaccination would be virtually inviolable, and with substantial reason.  Unfortunately, a recent breach in public confidence has exposed untold numbers of children to risk, and for reasons basically specious.

Perhaps the most striking reason behind the public connection between immunization and autism lies in the ironic success of other vaccines.  As Heyworth’s account notes, autism, a condition of uncertain origin and consequently not yet preventable, is relatively familiar to modern adults.  Polio, on the other hand, which for decades in the 20^th century was dreaded as fatal or crippling, is unknown to these adults because the polio vaccine essentially eliminated the danger.  This indicates that, at some point in this trajectory, society began to ignore the inherent link between the vaccine and the absence of disease.

This weakened or absent connection then sets the stage for vaccines to be regarded as “alien” agents, and consequently threatening.  Astoundingly, in the case of the autism association, in seems two incidents were all that were required to inflate the fears:  the report of one British doctor in 1998 that certain vaccines generated the intestinal issues he believed as linked to autism; and an actress’s belief, expressed on national TV, that a vaccine made her child autistic.  Abetting the doctor’s conclusion was the possibility that mercury levels in vaccines were dangerously high.  Nonetheless, extensive testing conducted soon after completely refuted the report, which had also been based only a sampling of 12 children (Heyworth, 2011).  The damage, however, had been done, just as the public fears were likely fueled by the simple coincidence of autism as usually detected approximately at the same ages when children receive standard vaccines.  Equally important, of course, is the power of media; the actress noted appeared on one of the most popular programs, seen by hundreds of millions of parents.  Through, again, two  single assertions made with no basis of authenticity, an entire society drastically altered its views on a traditionally unquestioned treatment.

All of this appears to validate Social Ecology theory, which expands traditional public health theories through incorporating the influences of the social environment, which in turn reflects trends in social perceptions.  In the traditional Public Health theory, the processes by which the public and health services interact are essentially pragmatic; disease is addressed by immunization when immunization is available, and public reaction is invariably positive. The new theory importantly addresses how public perception may impede or promote health care, in terms of social response to each agent (Coreil, 2009,  p. 70).  In this case of a widespread public dismissal of vaccines, it may be seen that a perception may gradually generate a kind of ideology.  The actual sources of this perception are unimportant; what matters is that it evolves, and in a way dangerous to the public ironically determined to avoid danger.  More to the point, in this particular instance of Social Ecology theory and as is to be expected of future occurrences, it may be that the power of modern media is the most potentially threatening agent of all.

References

Coreil, J. (2009). Social and Behavioral Foundations of Public Health. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Heyworth, K.K. (2011). “Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism.” Eds. Haugen, D., & Musser, S. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Retrieved from The Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center database.