Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of Donald Trump’s candidacy for president is his penchant for normalizing wrong behaviors. His constant stream of inflammatory sound bites has unearthed anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-women sentiments across the country and empowered people to be openly discriminatory.
His endorsement of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories is equally dangerous. By recirculating assertions of a link between childhood vaccinations and autism, Trump is validating a misguided anti-vaccination movement and encouraging behaviors that could have serious health consequences.
The autism claim is not a new one, of course. It has been a favorite stump speech segment of prominent Republicans for years. The occasional celebrity has chimed in on the subject, too.
The claim dates back to a paper published in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield in Lancet, a prestigious medical journal. The paper, which suggested that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine might cause autism, was later redacted. Wakefield failed to report significant conflicts of interest — namely that the study was paid for by “lawyers of parents seeking to sue vaccine makers for damages.”
Wakefield had also previously patented a stand alone measles vaccination. His paper advocated for separating the three components of the MMR vaccine, which would conveniently lead to a boom in sales of Wakefield’s alternative.
A British medical panel also found Wakefield guilty of dishonesty, academic irresponsibility and ethics violations, and his medical license was subsequently revoked. The editor-in-chief of Lancet called the article “utterly false” and said the journal had been “deceived.” Since then, nine consecutive studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found no link between vaccines and autism.
Skepticism remains though. Some believe vaccinations are a veiled money-making scheme set up by greedy doctors or “Big Pharma.” A recent NPR report found that between 47 and 79 percent of vaccines actually lose money. Others point to the presence of mercury or other toxins as the root of their apprehension. Yet a 1999 study performed by the FDA found no evidence of harm caused by using mercury as a vaccine preservative. Mercury has been removed from all but one vaccine, anyway.
The simple truth, confirmed by scientific study after scientific study, is that vaccinations are one of the biggest success stories of modern medicine. Most childhood vaccines have been shown to produce immunity in 90-100 percent of cases. The virtual eradication of measles and polio and the precipitous decline of pneumococcal disease and Hib all occurred shortly after the introduction of each respective vaccine. Each of these victories represents a powerful rebuttal to the most ardent anti-vaxxers.
The recent surge of anti-vaccine sentiment, fueled at least in part by Trump’s imprudent comments, has caused new outbreaks of diseases such as measles, mumps, whooping cough and chicken pox. This threatens the nation’s herd immunity — the critical threshold of people who need to be vaccinated to protect the community at large, including those who are unable to receive vaccinations such as pregnant women, infants and immunocompromised individuals.
Exasperated doctors have started fighting back. A recent survey found that one in five pediatricians regularly dismiss patients who refuse vaccinations. In addition to the aforementioned public health concerns, these pediatricians report that a “disproportionate amount of time is spent discussing vaccines” with resistant parents, and that consequently, “guidance on safe sleep and toilet training is being crowded out.”
Whether or not refusing care is the right approach to dealing with anti-vaxxers is something that should be debated another day. For now, suffice it to say that while Trump’s outlandish sound bites may grab headlines and even win votes, they are toxic and harmful. His lies and half-truths spread not unlike an infectious disease and encourage poor judgment. Awareness of the safety and efficacy of vaccines is paramount in combating Trump’s dangerous rhetoric. In short, vaccines should be embraced, not embattled.