Doctors warn that a rise in anti-vax sentiment is concerning, and it may be due to skepticism about Covid vaccines.

• The Lancet medical journal reported that in the late 1990s, claims that vaccines caused autism led tens of thousands of parents worldwide to oppose the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.
• In 2010, a 12-year-old article linking vaccines to autism was retracted by the journal, and subsequent studies have shown that vaccines do not cause Autism Spectrum Disorder.
• In the U.K., 90.3% of two-year-olds were vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella last year, while a year prior, 90.6% of children of the same age had received the vaccine.

Doctors have warned that skepticism about Covid-19 vaccines could be contributing to a concerning increase in anti-vax attitudes.

Professor Liam Smeeth, a physician and director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, expressed concern that hesitancy towards Covid-19 vaccines was spreading to attitudes towards other vaccines, according to CNBC.

Smeeth expressed concern that the negative perception of the MMR vaccine might lead people to question the effectiveness of other vaccines as well, and that a small drop in measles vaccine coverage in the U.K. could result in measles outbreaks.

In Britain during the 1990s and early 2000s, when vaccination rates decreased, there were outbreaks of the disease.

In the late 1990s, the belief that vaccines caused autism led tens of thousands of parents worldwide to oppose the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. However, in 2010, the Lancet journal retracted a 12-year-old article linking vaccines to autism, and subsequent studies have shown that vaccines do not cause Autism Spectrum Disorder.

‘Jar full of wasps’

Smeeth, a London-based expert, stated that measles vaccination rates need to decrease slightly below 90% for the disease to become a concern.

The measles virus is highly contagious and can cause severe complications such as pneumonia and brain inflammation. Prior to the widespread use of the measles vaccine, major epidemics occurred every two to three years, resulting in an estimated 2.6 million deaths annually, as reported by the WHO.

In the U.K., 90.3% of two-year-olds were vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella last year, while a year prior, 90.6% of children of the same age had received the vaccine.

In 2019, 90% of American children were vaccinated against measles by the age of two, which is a 2 percentage point decrease from the previous year. Unfortunately, no more recent data for the U.S. is available.

The measles vaccination rate in the U.S. dropped from 98% to 83% between 1988 and 1992 and remained below 90% for four years. In the U.K., the two-year-old measles vaccination rate fell below 90% in the late 1990s and did not recover until 2011.

Smeeth cautioned that measles is like a jar full of wasps that is eager to escape, and that the moment vaccine coverage decreases, measles will resurface. This is a concern, as anti-vax sentiment and a loss of confidence in vaccines are spreading to other vaccines as well.

‘Devastating’ changes

The politicization of Covid and its vaccines, as well as a lack of understanding of vaccine ingredients and public health, have had "devastating" effects, according to Gretchen LaSalle, a physician and clinical assistant professor at Washington State University's Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine.

In 2020, LaSalle completed the American Academy of Family Physicians Vaccine Science Fellowship and conducted a survey of over 2,200 people to track their attitudes towards immunizations.

Covid vaccines were first administered in December 2020 in the United States.

Our theory was that people would be reminded of the vital importance of vaccination and their confidence would increase after experiencing the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on lives and livelihoods.

During the pandemic, 20% of respondents to LaSalle's team reported a decrease in their confidence in vaccines.

LaSalle expressed concern about the decrease in vaccination percentages, stating that even a 5 to 10% reduction could be catastrophic for illnesses like measles, which require a high percentage of the population (around 95%) to be immune to limit spread.

CNBC reported that LaSalle stated several factors led to the public's loss of faith in vaccines.

The rise of deadly diseases globally was already evident before the pandemic, and vaccine hesitancy was on the rise, she stated.

The widespread use of the internet and social media as sources of news and information, along with the increasing prevalence of false information online, has undeniably exacerbated the issue.

The fear of vaccination is greater than the fear of the illness for some people in the developed world who have never seen the devastating effects of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Breakthrough cases

Chicago-based internal medicine physician Vivek Cherian stated to CNBC that he hadn't observed a shift in people's opinions on non-Covid vaccines during the pandemic, although he could comprehend why some individuals' perspectives on vaccines in general might have been influenced.

"If they received the Covid vaccine and possibly even received a booster and still contracted a breakthrough infection, their immediate response may be 'What was the point if I ended up with an infection anyways? What's the point of getting other vaccines?'" he wrote in an email.

I inform my patients that even though they may have contracted an infection, it could have been far worse if they were not vaccinated. The data shows that being vaccinated and boosted significantly decreases the likelihood of hospitalization and death.

No vaccine is 100% effective, as Cherian pointed out, emphasizing that this applies to Covid vaccines as well.

Consider the annual flu vaccine," he advised. "Although I received a flu shot a few years ago and still contracted the flu, I continue to get influenza shots annually without being discouraged.