Running head: ANTI-VACCINATION, PAST AND PRESENT

Ant-Vaccination, Past and Present

Eberardo Sanchez
University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract
Since the day that vaccines where invented, there is people who thinks that vaccines are wrong,
from different reasons depending on the time, position and religion. At the beginning of the antivaccination the major leaders where from church, but the objection that they had where more
because the violation to the individual liberty, in a more recent time, the arguments changed to
the components of the vaccines, specifically mercury, a chemical present on big amounts in the
first vaccinations. Even with this in the US have some laws that make mandatory vaccines for
schoolchildren making the propagation of diseases, taking available infection point to the
minimum the prevention of an outbreak its almost total, and to know how the vaccines impact
the population there are some mathematical models that explain this, and even when there is
some exception to citizens with some special reasons, that doesnt affect the protection because
an 100% immunization is no required.

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Vaccinations describe the process of giving vaccines (in the forms of injections, oral
drugs, or nasal sprays) to stimulate the production of antibodies to ward off certain diseases.
Thanks to vaccines, many infectious diseases that once routinely killed or permanently injured
people are at all-time lows. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for other countries where
diseases like measles, diphtheria, and polio continue to claim thousands of lives every year.
"International travel -- both to and from the U.S. -- increases everyone's exposure risk," says
Anita Chandra-Puri, M.D., a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics and a
pediatrician at Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group in Chicago. To understand how
vaccines work, it is helpful to first look at how the body fights illness. When germs, such as
bacteria or viruses, invade the body, they attack and multiply. This invasion is called an infection,
and the infection is what causes illness. The immune system uses several tools to fight infection.
Blood contains red blood cells, for carrying oxygen to tissues and organs, and white or immune
cells, for fighting infection. These white cells consist primarily of B-lymphocytes, Tlymphocytes, and macrophages:

Macrophages are white blood cells that swallow up and digest germs, plus dead or dying cells.
The macrophages leave behind parts of the invading germs called antigens. The body identifies
antigens as dangerous and stimulates the body to attack them.
Antibodies attack the antigens left behind by the macrophages. Antibodies are produced by
defensive white blood cells called B-lymphocytes.
T-lymphocytes are another type of defensive white blood cell. They attack cells in the body that
have already been infected

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The process of creating, testing and producing a vaccine in mass quantities can take many
years from start to finish because the industry is highly regulated. Before scientists even begin to
formulate a vaccine, researchers have to study the particular virus or bacteria. Basically, they
have to isolate it in a laboratory setting and figure out how it causes the disease. Then they
develop the vaccine as either a live-attenuated or inactivated vaccine, depending on the type of
virus or bacteria. Once they have a good grip on that, researchers study the best ways to protect
people from the disease using the vaccine they have developed. They figure out the best dosage
amounts, whether or not one shot is good enough, or if more is necessary. They also estimate
how long protection from the vaccine lasts to determine if booster shots will be necessary. Most
of this early research is conducted in laboratories in an academic setting and is paid for by
foundation or government grants. But even with all this control there is some groups that are
against the use of this, and describe the dynamic between vaccines and this groups three
questions were formulated.
1. What is the Anti-Vaccination movement?
2. What are the current policies about vaccination?
3. What are the arguments from the anti-vaccination movement?
This paper would presenting the answers to those questions presenting the information
collected from some investigations made by top researches on the matter.

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What is the Anti-Vaccination movement?
In the 19th century the Dutch government reacted to the smallpox epidemic requiring that
all school children be vaccinated there was widespread objection, in 1881 Bond term Bestrijding
van Vaccinedwang (Association to Oppose Compulsory Vaccination), was create to fight this
vaccination law, between the members where a lot of clerics that main argument was that the law
represented an infringement of individual liberty; by the same time in the united states resistance
became particularly strong at organizations emerging in the years following with the antivaccination society of America founded in 1879 a prime concern in the united states too was to
influence or seek the repel of public health legislation, many leaders of these organizations were
irregular physicians, whose right to practice could be threatened by state intervention in
healthcare, having repealed compulsory vaccination laws in many states, instigating destructive
riots in Montreal and Milwaukee, and fighting vaccination through the courts, the movement
began to disintegrate,( Kaufman, 1967).
In the last years, the anti-vaccine movement, which include those who claim that
MMR (mumps-measles-rubella) vaccine for autism, has unite efforts with those who claim that
the high levels of mercury are the cause of many of the ills that infect mankind. Fear against
vaccines is reflected in the non-medical vaccine exceptions rates in public schools around the
country, because with the measurements of the vaccine exceptions we can see the public opinion
towards the vaccination refusal. The anti-vaccination movement, are all those organizations and
individuals that claim that the vaccines far from helping the communities are the reason of many
problems that affect the world.

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A 2004 online survey showed that half of parents are concerned that a child might
develop a long-term medical condition as a result of vaccination. One tenth of parents are
uncomfortable having their child vaccinated due to health concerns. About one quarter are
concerned that children receive more vaccines than are good for them, and that, as a result, their
immune systems could be weakened. About one fifth (19%) do not think vaccines are proven
safe prior to use in the United States.
In June 2005, Rolling Stone Magazine published a piece by congressman Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr. called Deadly Immunity, accusing the government of protecting drug companies
from litigation by concealing evidence that mercury in vaccines may have caused autism in
thousands of children. The article was then discredited, corrected many times and finally
retracted by the magazine. Other politicians like U.S. Senators John Kerry, Chris Dodd and
Joseph Lieberman also stated publicly that they believe vaccines cause autism. The support to the
movement was fueled by many celebrities, among them former Playmate Jenny McCarthy, her
then husband, actor Jim Carrey. They reached a huge audience being hosted by Oprah Winfrey
and Larry King on their very popular TV shows. Saturday Night showed some sympathy for the
anti-vaccination charge of class bias. Pointing out that vaccination had been unevenly applied,
since private and separate schools were exempt under the legislation, the editorial argued that
"compulsory vaccination has been a sham." The whole issue ought to be re-examined, and, if it
were deemed necessary, then everyone should be forced to receive a vaccination. The editors
concluded: "The doctors and their families, the members of the School Board, the teachers as
well as the pupils, in schools separate and private, as well as public, all should be required to pull
up their sleeves and contract sore arms."
What are the current policies about vaccination?

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In 1855 Massachusetts passed the first US state law mandating vaccinations for
schoolchildren, followed by New York (1862), Connecticut (1872), Indiana (1881), and Arkansas
(1882). , (CDC, 2015). The Center of Diseases Control estimated that 732,000 children were
saved from death and 322 million cases of childhood illness were prevented between 1994 and
2014 just in the U.S. thanks to vaccination, in simple terms vaccines work by forcing the body to
mount an immune reaction, which in turn generates immunity to future infections of this
particular virus, this immunity is generally assumed to last a lifetime. In the past many vaccines
contained small quantities of the infecting organism, but most modern vaccines simply contain
sufficient parts of the pathogen to enable an immune response combined with chemicals that
promote this immune reaction. Various elements of mathematics are used throughout the vaccine
development process; but this explanation focus on the use of mathematics in public health,
understanding the impact of vaccination at the population level.
One of this mathematical models is the Susceptible Infectious Recovered (SIR)
differential equation model, which describes the rate of change of the proportion of individuals
susceptible to, infected with and recovered from a given infectious disease. To this formulation
add the effects of vaccination

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Where the terms in grey correspond to
the natural birth and death of people in the
population, the terms in red correspond to the
interaction between susceptible and infected
individuals leading to transmission, the terms
in blue relate to the recovery of infected individuals, and the terms in green correspond to either
the vaccination of infants (a proportion v1 of all children are assumed to be immunized) or the
random vaccination of individuals in the population.
The pulse vaccination strategy scheme proposes to vaccinate a fraction p of the entire
susceptible population in a single pulse applied every T years. Pulse vaccination gives life-long
immunity to pS susceptible who as a consequence recover. Immediately following each
vaccination pulse, the system evolves from its new initial state without being further affected by
the vaccination scheme until the next pulse is applied. In terms of the SIR model, this can be
formulated as
S(L) = (1 -P)S (tn) 7 tn+l = t, + T,
Where T is the period of pulse vaccination, t, is the time at which will apply the nth pulse,
and t; is the time just before applying the nth pulse. This will show that if the period of pulses T
is shorter than a fixed critical value Tmax (to be derived below), then the epidemic must
eventually die out.
To reinforce this mathematical models of implementation the States institute mandatory
immunization requirements as a prerequisite to public school enrollment because it is the most
efficient method of perpetuating herd immunity. When a critical portion of a community is
immunized against a contagious disease, most members of the community are protected against

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that disease because there is little
opportunity for an outbreak. Even those
who are not eligible for certain vaccines
such as infants, pregnant women, or
immunocompromised individualsget
some protection because the spread of
contagious disease is contained.
This is known as community immunity.
(NIAID, 2013).
In recent years, state legislatures
have considered numerous bills to either
expand or restrict the personal belief
exemptions. In Washington, California and
Vermont, parents who want to claim an exemption must now get a doctors signature. In 2013,
Oregon passed a law that would require parents to obtain a signature of their primary care
provider or watch an online educational video that presents information about vaccine risks and
benefits. In 2013, Colorado passed legislation that requires schools to collect and make publicly
available information about their vaccination and exemption rates. While the law may not require
adults to get vaccinated, their employers may. For example, the US military requires certain
vaccinations. Heath care providers often require or promote vaccination for employees, such as
seasonal flu or H1N1 shots. Employees may opt for vaccines to avoid losing time from work some employers have rules against coming to work when sick. Religious and other exemptions
to mandatory vaccination laws are not required by the U.S. Constitution. However, since 100

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percent immunization rates are not needed to achieve herd immunity, most state governments
have chosen to exempt certain individuals from their mandatory vaccination requirements,
believing that communities can obtain herd immunity even if such individuals do not become
immunized. Most notably, 48 out of 50 states have exempted those whose religious beliefs forbid
vaccination. Eighteen states also have made the more controversial decision to exempt
individuals who claim to possess non-religious cultural or philosophical objections to vaccines,
which in some states are granted merely by checking one box on a simple form. Such
exemptions are not surprising, Given Americans deep respect for individual freedom and the
fact that absolutely mandatory immunization laws meet stiff resistance. However, continuing
recognition of such exemptions may not be sustainable in the long run.

What are the arguments from the anti-vaccination movement?

In 1998, researcher Andrew Wakefield and some of his colleagues published a study in the
prestigious English medical journal Lancet that claimed to show a connection between the MMR
vaccine and autism. Wakefields theory was that the MMR vaccine, which contains a live virus,
can cause in susceptible children a chronic measles infection. This in turn leads to
gastrointestinal disturbances, including what he calls a leaky gut syndrome, which then allows
for certain toxins and chemicals, like those from bread and dairy that are normally broken down
by the gut, to enter the bloodstream where they can access and damage the developing brain, and
causing autism. Autism is a complex neurological disorder that typically manifests in the first
few years of life and primarily involves a deficiency of typical social skills and behavior.

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In the 1990s, the number of autism diagnoses significantly increased, from between one and
three to about fifteen cases per ten thousand, although the true incidence is probably between
thirty and sixty per ten thousand, (Rutter 2005). During this same period, the number of
vaccines given in the routine childhood schedule also increased. This led some to assume, or at
least speculate, causation from correlationperhaps the vaccines or something in them created
this epidemic of autism. Recent studies on social media networks emphasize the central role
played by influential individuals in shaping attitudes and disseminating information. Indeed, it is
argued that a group of such influencers is responsible for driving trends, influencing public
opinion and recommending products. One study found that 78% of consumers trusted social peer
recommendations, while just 14% trusted advertisements. What makes opinion leaders
particularly interesting and important from our perspective is that they add their personal
interpretation to the media content and pass it on to their audience. Depending on whether these
influencers speak responsibly or not, this can have positive or negative impact on the goal of
disseminating accurate information.
But the facts in this case seem to have little bearing on anti-vaccine advocates such as
actress and former Playboy playmate Jenny McCarthy, who despite all evidence to the contrary
has repeatedly insisted that her son's autism was caused by vaccines. Other public figures
including attorney and activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., comic Bill Maher, actor Jim Carrey and
journalist Katie Couric have also expressed views linking vaccines to autism and other
conditions. Jenny McCarthy has become the poster mom of the anti-vaccine movement, thanks
to her highly vocal stance against the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (MMR) that she believes
triggered her son Evans autism, (Mitschang, 2014). In order to develop engagement and
messaging strategies for anti-vaccination sentiment, it is vital to have an abstract understanding

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of what drives users to become suspicious about vaccinations indeed, outbreaks of easily
prevented illnesses have health experts alarmed: Health officials in New York City this week
reported 13 cases of mumps among students at Fordham University, despite the school's
requirement that its students get full MMR vaccinations. Large outbreaks involving thousands of
cases of mumps were also reported in 2006 and 2009.

Even when the cases of autism had increased, there is no scientifically proof between the
relation between autism and vaccines, and the only paper that supported that idea, was prove
fake, and with no scientific background and the doctor can no longer practice medicine, even
with that the anti-vaccination movement have a lot of support, because some opinion leaders had
proclaim their support to this movement, sadly this leaders are not qualified to give some
reliable opinion, but a lot of people follow their lead, this is sad because they can cause that a lot
of people get sick or worst.

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References
(NIAID), T. N. (2013, NOVEMBER 27). Community Immunity ("Herd Immunity"). Retrieved
from Vaccines.gov: http://www.vaccines.gov/basics/protection/
Blume, S. (2009). Anti-vaccination movements and their interpretations. Social Science &
Medicine, 628-642.

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Ciolli, A. (2008). Mandatory School Vaccinations: The Role of Tort Law. YALE JOURNAL OF
BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE, 129-137.
Frye, L. (2012). A Social Controversy: Autistic Spectrum Disorders Correlation to the MeaslesMumps-Rubella Vaccination. Lynchburg: Liberty University.
Gangarosa, E. J., Galazka, A. M., Wolfe, C. R., & Phillips, L. M. (1998). Impact of anti-vaccine
movements on pertussis control: the untold story. THE LANCET.
Mitschang, T. (2014). The Anti-Vaccine Movement: Where Are We Now? BioSupply Trends
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