Teddies Talks Biology - Issue 9

Anton Myachin—UVI

Vaccinations have been heavily discussed in the media recently, and two very clear sides have been formed. Those who are “ anti - vax ” and the rest of the world. Anti - vaxers have been criti- cised for their thoughts and beliefs, and I would like to bring some context to them. Firstly, vaccines have been known to cause serious and sometimes even fatal side effects. Ac- cording to the CDC every vaccine carries a chance of a life threatening allergic reaction (anaphylaxis). Furthermore seizures, comas and permanent brain damage, have all been linked with vaccinations due to mercury being used in their production. In the description of

each flu virus vaccine, it states: a small pos- sibility exists that the influenza vaccine is di- rectly linked to Guillain - Barré Syndrome a disorder where one ’ s immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system. Another ma- jor belief is that vaccines cause autism. This was first claimed after a 1998 scientific paper was released conducting a test with 12 chil- dren who received the MMR vaccine, showed that 8 developed regressive devel- opment disorder and several developed gas- trointestinal symptoms. [ Editor ’ e note: This paper has since been entirely discredited, and the scientific consensus is that there

is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism] .

New vaccines come with inevitable new resistance. Due to the high tech world that we live in, social media is a forum to spread propaganda. It has been reported that 31 million people fol- low anti - vax groups on Facebook, with another 17 million people subscribing to similar ac- counts on YouTube. With news of new COVID19 vaccines, never have we seen such contro- versy amongst the whole connected population. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regu-

latory Agency (MHRA) has been warning the government about the anti - vaccine rhetoric: they say “ We fear that the anti - vax movement could derail the coronavirus vaccine pro-

gramme. ” Most of the anti - vax claims are false, unsupported, and sometimes even comical, however they undermine the vaccine program as fewer people result in taking it. The govern- ment and countless other legitimate organisa- tions have made countless reassurances, but this is not sufficient for some people. Educa- tion and further transparency by large healthcare institutions is required to minimise the number of anti - vaxers.  

A paper published in Nature earlier this year mapped online views on vaccines. The author concluded by warning that the anti - vax movement will overwhelm pro - vaccination voices online within a decade. If this came to pass, the consequences would be far beyond than COVID19.

Teddies Talks Biology I Issue 9 I June 2021

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