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Severe pathological conditions believed to be caused by vaccines (e.g., autism and infertility)
There are usually two types of vaccination fears, which tend to be much greater than the actual risks involved. Both types of fear have been shown to influence vaccine hesitancy.
1) Fears related to suffering side effects (whether plausible or not). For example:
These fears can stem from or be magnified if individuals perceive vaccines to have toxic ingredients. Some commonly mentioned ones are:
2) Fear of the vaccination procedure itself, such as fear of needles.
This theme encompasses a number of subthemes about perceived harm allegedly caused by vaccines. This includes autism and other developmental or behavioural conditions, particularly attributed to MMR vaccination in children. Other conditions such as cancers, autoimmune diseases and infertility may also be attributed to vaccination.
It is normal to have questions and doubts about medical treatments and how they might affect us. The world can sometimes feel like a dangerous place, and we don’t fully know why some medical conditions occur. It is understandable to want to know what caused a problem so we can try to avoid it or solve it.
Dialogue between patients and healthcare professionals is most productive if it is guided by empathy, and an opportunity for the patient to affirm the reasons underlying their attitudes and to express understanding for that. That’s why it is important to understand the attitude roots behind people’s overt opinions. To affirm a person’s underlying attitude root does not mean we need to agree with the specifics of their argument. For example, we can acknowledge that:
It is normal to have questions and doubts about medical treatments and how they might affect us. The world can sometimes feel like a dangerous place, and we don’t fully know why some medical conditions occur. It is understandable to want to know what caused a problem so we can try to avoid it or solve it.
Fear and uncertainty can lead us to see connections that do not exist. Indeed, those with vested interests in finding false links often go to great lengths to publicise false information. For example, in 1998, a doctor who was paid by personal injury lawyers published an article that falsely claimed a link between MMR and autism. The article was retracted after his scientific misconduct was revealed, and extensive research has found that vaccines do not cause autism.
We need to distinguish between events that simply occur at random close together, and those that are actually causally linked. Not everything that happens just after we have a vaccine is caused by the vaccine. Sometimes unrelated medical conditions occur right after a vaccination, but so do other accidents.
If we had an accident in the hospital carpark after getting a vaccine, that would be tragic, but it would not be because of the vaccine.
Additional information:
Academic references:
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