A new report published in Pediatrics has put a face on the anti vaccination movement and it suggests that the majority of the population come are white parents from affluent communities.
According to Fox 6 WBRC, parents who opt to exempt their children from routine vaccinations are white parents from well-to-do -- at least in California -- communities.
In addition, it also found that schools with high rates of personal-belief exemptions usually had high rates of exemptions for medical reasons as well.
"There's no clear explanation for why that would be," said Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who was not part of the study conducted. The doctor cautioned that the lack of vaccination could put classmates and other kids at risk.
Kids, whose parents opted not go avail of vaccinations, could be putting children who have been exempted for medical reasons at risk of diseases that include the chicken pox, measles and the mumps, to name a few. The publication noted that in a population where a small minority aren't vaccinated, they are somewhat protected from diseases because of "herd immunity" wherein most of those around them are immunized thus decreasing the risk of exposure. However, as the population of non-immunized children increase, the strength of the herd immunity weakens.
Anti Vaccination Movement
The present day anti-vaccination movement was started by Andrew Wakefield who authored a study on the link between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The study has since been retracted but per Newsweek, the damage has been done. While the report has been refuted multiple times over, there are those who still stand by Wakefield's findings and many have lost confidence in vaccinations programs which have all but eradicated a number of highly contagious and fatal diseases.
However, Wakefield asserts that his report and himself specifically, bears no responsibility over the current measles outbreak in the United States as well as the decline in the vaccination rates in the U.K.
"The people who put the blame on me are really just displacing their inadequacy on others, quoted the online publication of Wakefield.
"We merely reported the parent's description of what happened to their children, and the clinical findings," he added. "We made no claims about the vaccine causing autism. In fact, we said this does not prove an association. And all we urged was further research."
