by Since the invention of vaccines, there have been those that have opposed it on a number of issues, ranging from wild conspiracy theories on the existence of disease as a weapon of the government to half-baked misconceptions born from pseudoscience. While people are entitled to their opinions, this group has received a boost in popularity, leading children across the nation to be denied vaccines by their own parents in misguided attempts to save them from perceived enemies. While this is a relatively harmless belief in one family, once more join, the potential for danger spreads.
Not everyone is capable of receiving a vaccine – there are those with severe autoimmune disorders, those who might be allergic to the contents, and those who might be religiously mandated to do otherwise, but in the beauty of vaccines, this is largely possible. Vaccines work on a base principle of herd immunity, which is that a large enough percent of the population has undergone preventative measures so that any spread of a disease will be contained. Most diseases have herd immunity levels near 90%, though recent pushes in the anti-vaxxer community have seen levels of vaccination drop dangerously near, or even below herd immunity levels, leaving people at the risk of a vast outbreak of an otherwise preventable disease.
No matter the scientific evidence refuting each claim, this dangerous belief still spreads, viral and invasive. Where once this might have spread through word of mouth or letter, the internet has provided a soapbox to those who would otherwise be ignored, given their lack of qualifications and genuine information to dispense medical advice. In one simple search for answers, one can be turned away from the wealth of fact-checked wisdom that exists on the internet to online forums where there exist a number of these conspiracy theorists, and all too like a disease, negative thoughts can be infectious. Every person wants to be the one to pierce the veil – to see the world as it is and not as we are meant to perceive it, and that can lead to some unfortunate delusions that can transmit in the absence of fact, common sense, and science.
This phenomena is not simply limited to the online community of anti-vaxxers – we can see similar ill-informed influences throughout the wealth of online information, seen more commonly in politics than anywhere else. This compounds with the partisan and biased nature of most popular news sources, often never addressing or refuting these theories with any degree of professionalism or respect, if at all. While it seems trivial to them, to those who subscribe to such sources, or even hear of them, this only serves to alienate believers and conspiracy theorists, leading to the widespread hate of the media we often see in certain political parties. How can you trust a news source when hundreds and thousands of others say their claims are false (even if they lack validation or information)?
This pervasive mob mentality has lead to a wide acceptance of unsubstantiated facts, and is not limited to any one subject. There exist a number of systems to provide credible information, though forwhatever reason, they are often ignored, refuted, or forgotten in the face of sensationalized lies. Ultimately, this creates the identity of us vs. them, in within those identities, one can ignore fact and common sense to follow their peers.