An increase in disease outbreaks could be the direct result of the view that a white house panel is taking against immunization. Donald Trump’s stance on the issue of vaccination could cause a decrease in immunization and would cause rise in diseases. Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr the person who suggests that inoculations are linked to autism will be meeting with Donald Trump to discuss a panel.
Although the link between vaccination and autism has been debunked, Kennedy is calling for examination of what he calls vaccine safety and scientific integrity. The president-elect has also hinted at the possibility of autism being linked with inoculations. Public health experts and advocates are now worried that with presidential backing, the effort could erode public confidence in vaccines and cause resurgence of the previously almost eradicated disease in the U.S.
Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation states that they have dozens of studies examining vaccines and autism. She states that there is no link that supports the idea. The original article from Lancet in 1998 that purports a tie between autism and vaccine was found to be based on unsound and fraudulent data and its author, Andrew Wakefield has since been barred from practicing medicine in the U.K. Singer states that her fear is that people will withhold vaccines from their children.
A White House panel on vaccine-autism with Donald Trump stance on the matter, could put authority to false assertions. This in turn could feed the growing number of audience in some communities who believe that vaccines could lead to autism. In a 2011 study, CDC researchers found that around 30 percent of parents are worried that inoculations could lead to learning disabilities including autism. Pediatricians reported that a survey evidenced that the number of parents refusing vaccines for their children increased from 74.5 percent in 2006 to 87 percent in 2013.
As a health consequence of these refusals, measles outbreak which began at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., spread to cities and towns in 2014 and 2015. A total of 125 people fell ill. Epidemiologists estimated that vaccination rate in these communities were no higher than 86 percent and could be as low as 50 percent. To have a herd immunity, experts say that it takes a rate of 96 to 99 percent to effectively inhibit such outbreaks. Measles vaccination in the state of California has declined over the past decade as reported in an article by the Scientific American.
Although a majority of Democrats and Republicans still support vaccination, there have been a widening of the partisan divide. Democrats have advocates for vaccines in the past two years. On the other hand, 64 percent of Republicans think vaccination is a health issue and 53 percent consider childhood vaccines are safe as reported by The Huffington Post.