New Delhi, October 29 (IANS). Health experts said on Wednesday that personal biases and superstitions are fueling repeated claims that childhood vaccines are increasing the risk of autism (a neurological condition).
Recently, the US-based McCullough Foundation published a report of its own. Which claimed that vaccination is the “most important factor” in increasing autism.
The report, which has not been peer-reviewed, is attracting the attention of many anti-vaccine activists, including Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu.
Dr Rajeev Jayadevan of the Kochi-based Indian Medical Association told IANS, “There are many people who take an anti-vaccination stance. We saw the harmful effects of their propaganda in the early stages of the pandemic – when thousands of people died of severe Covid-19 simply because they were afraid of getting vaccinated.”
He added, “Unfortunately, anti-science views are prevalent in some circles – driven by personal prejudice, superstition and attraction to conspiracy theories.”
The report, not published in any journal, raises questions about expanding vaccination programs for children – which are known to prevent disease and mortality.
Dr Shefali Gulati, a pediatrician at AIIMS, told IANS that despite clear evidence of the life-saving benefits of childhood vaccination, vaccination hesitancy remains a serious challenge in the post-Covid-19 era.
Citing an editorial published in the journal Autism, Gulati said that measles outbreaks have increased in the US and Europe after Covid.
“A major reason for this hesitancy is the enduring myth that vaccines cause autism, a theory that has long been refuted, but that has not disappeared from public discussion,” Gulati said.
The anti-vaccine movement began with a fraudulent paper published in The Lancet in 1998 by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, which falsely claimed a link between vaccines and autism.
“Although that paper was retracted, the damage was already done,” Jayadevan said. “Many people still believe that vaccines cause autism, even though numerous well-conducted studies have shown no such link.”
He told IANS, “It is astonishing that Wakefield has been included among the authors of this new McCullough Foundation report – which has not even been peer-reviewed and published. This is simply a compilation that mixes opinion, weak reports and actual studies as if they have the same scientific value. This is not a valid research methodology.”
Notably, such misinformation can have adverse consequences where parents refuse to vaccinate their children, resulting in the re-emergence of “deadly but vaccine-preventable diseases that were once conquered.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), global vaccination efforts have saved about 154 million lives over the past 50 years, the majority of whom are infants under 1 year of age.
Gulati appealed to health care professionals to combat vaccination hesitancy by providing patience and accurate information, and to focus on dispelling misconceptions.
–IANS
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