Entry 6: Vaccinations!? Measles, Mumps, and Rubella.. Oh My!

Vaccinations have been a hot topic lately in modern society. Questions and accusations about safety and efficacy of vaccines have been hurled back and forth. Determining the validity of statements on both sides of an argument can help to discern which statistics are false and which statistics are valid.

Take a look at the CDC website for the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine) webpage. CDC MMR.

The biggest concern citizens and parents have with vaccinations, are the claims that they can cause autism in children. How did this suspicion arise? It started in 1995 when a British physician, Andrew Wakefield, published a study that proposed MMR combination vaccines were causing children to develop autistic symptoms. He also made a statement, that said single vaccinations would not likely cause autism like a combination vaccine such as MMR. It was later revealed, that Andrew Wakefield had filed for a patent of a single-antigen measles vaccine. Andrew Wakefield was in a position where he could profit financially if he propagated the views in his statement, despite the fact the study could not find a causal link to autism. It was also later revealed, that lawyers were the primary source of funding for his research.

In the twelve years following Andrew Wakefield's initial claims, numerous studies have been conducted to try and prove a link between vaccines and autism. All of these studies failed to find any link between the two. As a result of the failure to reproduce Wakefield's study and the information that came out, about his patent and lawyer backing, the British General Medical Council banned Wakefield from practicing medicine in the U.K. More information and history can be found at this link: History of Vaccines.

If science has largely disproved that autism is caused by vaccines, then why is there such a huge scare and outcry from parents?

The answer to that question is simple. Anti-Vaccines proponents use techniques of persuasion to appeal to their audiences. They employ the use of fear (pathos) and they use false logos and reasoning to back-up there claims. They employ every fallacy of persuasion and debate possible.
The fallacies of logic they employ include:

• argumentum ad antiquitatem
• argumentum ad hominem
• argumentum ad ignorantiam
• argumentum ad logicam
• argumentum ad nauseam
• argumentum ad numerum
• argumentum ad populum
• argumentum ad verecundiam
• circulus in demonstrando
• complex question
• dicto simpliciter
• naturalistic fallacy
• non sequitur
• petitio principii
• post hoc ergo propter hoc
• red herring
• straw man

The descriptions to these fallacies can be found by clicking on the links.

Anti-vaccine propagators prey on the public's fear. Because of their efforts the reality of the situation is very bleak. Vaccines have successfully eradicated terrible illnesses that at one time took the lives of many people. If vaccine use declines, then the United states could face a very real epidemic and healthcare crisis. The CDC explains more at the following link: Consequences