Vaccines have been used to prevent disease for centuries and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life-threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and whooping cough. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientists to ensure they are effective and safe and must receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases through the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization eliminated smallpox from the globe and led to the near elimination of wild poliovirus. Vaccines have reduced some preventable infectious diseases to historic lows, and now few people experience the devastating effects of measles, whooping cough and other illnesses. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Despite all the testing and vaccine approval process, many people still mistakenly believe that vaccines cause autism, even in light of research that has disproved the notion. This highlights the difficulty of dispelling false claims once someone has accepted the lie, especially if the findings are supported by scientific research. It also highlights the gullibility of the general public in believing everything that medical research reports without questioning the findings. Unfortunately, the media attention on these examples of junk science helps convince many of their veracity. The furor surrounding the belief that vaccines cause autism began in 1998, when Andrew Wakefield in the United Kingdom published an article in The Lancet linking the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to cases of autism in children . This statement gained a lot of momentum and quickly spread around the world. This has led to support for various unproven vaccine autism theories by parents in both the UK and America. After finding intestinal disease in children with autism, Wakefield claimed that separating the MMR into three different vaccinations would be safer. Since then, Wakefield's research has been discredited, he has been accused of serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council for breaching several ethical practices, and he has been investigated for failing to disclose a conflict of interest - a pending patent on a rival vaccine against measles (Gross, 2009). Although it is false, many still wholeheartedly believe that vaccines are harmful. In the 1998 Lancet article, Wakefield studied 12 children “who, after a period of apparent normality, lost acquired skills, including communication” (Wakefield, Murch, Anthony, Linnell, Casson, Malik, Berelowitz, Dhillon, Thomson, Harvey, Valentine, Davies and Walker-Smith, 1998). All 12 children were reported to have shown behavioral symptoms after receiving the vaccination. After receiving vaccination, characteristics associated with exposure collectively included fever/delirium, rash, self-harm, repetitive behavior, loss of self-help, seizures, gaze avoidance, diarrhea, disinterest, lack of play, vomiting, and viral pneumonia recurring. . In 8 of the 12 children, the onset of behavioral problems was linked to measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination by the child's parents or doctor. They performed extensive tests on the 12 children, which consisted ofcolonoscopies, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalography (EEG) including visual, auditory brainstem and sensory evoked potentials, and lumbar punctures. Urinary and fecal samples were also evaluated as part of the laboratory investigations. MRI scans, EEGs, cerebrospinal fluid profiles were normal, and clinical examination showed that none had neurological abnormalities. However, colonoscopy results showed intestinal pathological changes in children. Based on these findings, they state: “The gut and behavioral pathologies may have occurred together by chance, reflecting a selection bias in a self-referential group; However, the uniformity of intestinal pathological changes and the fact that previous studies have found intestinal dysfunction in children with autism spectrum disorders suggests that the connection is real and reflects a unique pathological process” (Wakefield, et al., 1998). Although all 12 children showed behavioral changes and some autism-like symptoms, the study said an association between measles, mumps and rubella vaccination and autism has not been proven. They also state that if there is a causal link between measles, mumps and rubella vaccination and autism, a higher rate of autism could be expected since the introduction of the vaccine in the UK in 1988. However, they state that There is insufficient data to demonstrate that there was an increasing incidence of autism. The paper concludes by stating that further investigation is needed to examine the syndrome and its possible relationship to the vaccine. Knowing that fears about the vaccine's claim on autism would spread across the United States, the CDC acted quickly and directed the Institute of Medicine to convene a safety review panel in 2000. The panel was unable to find a causal relationship between measles, mumps and rubella. vaccine and autism. They also carried out further research into the safety of the mercury-containing preservative, thimerosal, used in the vaccine. Similarly, the Institute of Medicine failed to find sufficient evidence to accept or reject a relationship between thimerosal and autism (Gross, 2009). In 2003, the CDC also released its vaccine safety findings based on a study of 140,000 children that concluded that there is no relationship between thimerosal and autism. In 2004, after reviewing hundreds of studies investigating a link between vaccines and autism, the Institute of Medicine unanimously announced in its final report that there was no causal relationship between the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines and thimerosal or autism. Surprisingly, this evidence did not calm the wave of disbelief, but only gave rise to anti-vaccine activists who argued that the Institute of Medicine was riddled with conflict-of-interest agendas that sidelined a generation of children. Despite all the evidence, one in four Americans still believes that vaccines cause autism (Gross, 2009). Due to this lack of confidence in vaccinations, the United States saw its largest measles epidemic in 2008, a disease that was declared eradicated in 2000, due to declining vaccination rates (Ratzan, 2010). Mumps and whooping cough are also back in fashion. By 2007, over 5,000 parents of children with autism had sued for compensation. A particular case in November 2007 solidified the belief that vaccines cause autism. The Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged that the vaccines had aggravated a pre-existing condition in a child, which had caused “regressive encephalopathy withcharacteristics of autism spectrum disorder” (Gross, 2009, p. 4). Activists went on to report that this was a breakthrough in proving that vaccines cause autism, and several media outlets gave the story unnecessary attention. The impact of vaccines on autism has fueled anti-vaccine theories, and even today parents are afraid to vaccinate their children. In a letter to parents, Raff (2014) denounces anti-vaccine activists: “They say vaccines are not that effective at preventing disease. But 3 million children's lives are saved every year through vaccination, and 2 million die every year from vaccine-preventable diseases” (Raff, 2014). Raff also addresses the fact that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism, and that thimerosal does not cause autism either, in fact, it has not been used in most vaccines since 2001. Raff encourages parents to educate themselves about the issue and read the scientific studies that have shown that vaccines do not cause autism. The letter also highlights the fact that Wakefield's paper claiming a link between vaccines and autism has been retracted and his medical licenses revoked. It is clear that public health education campaigns have not been effective in allaying parental concerns that vaccines cause autism. The study linking the MMR vaccine to autism received widespread media coverage. Because of such widespread coverage, the public has concluded that there must be some truth to the claims that the vaccine caused autism. Parents were unsure whether vaccines were safe, and confusion abounded about who to believe. When the media attempted to provide balanced coverage of the debate reported on both sides of the issue, it gave credibility to both positions. We quickly learn that once people have made a decision, it is difficult to change it. Clements and Ratzan (2002) suggest that the fault lies not necessarily with the press itself, but with the process by which it operates by providing enormous incentives to create scandal or alarm. They also suggest that the media can be an extremely useful tool if used correctly for health education and promotion (Clements & Ratzan, 2002). The World Health Organization (2008) lists several benefits of vaccinations. First, eradication is the primary goal of all immunization programs; however, so far only smallpox has been eradicated. Eradication requires high levels of population immunity worldwide over a prolonged period of time. The World Health Organization reports that the next disease targeted for eradication is polio (Andre, Booy, Bock, Clemens, Datta, John, Lee, & Lolekha, 2008). Second, the elimination of a disease locally is possible without the eradication of a disease globally. For elimination to occur, immunization of 95% of the population must occur through a two-dose vaccination program. The World Health Organization claims that mumps and measles can be eliminated with the use of the MMR vaccine (Andre, et al., 2008). National programs contribute to the elimination and eradication of diseases. However, local elimination does not eliminate the possibility of reintroduction. Third, vaccines protect individuals from mortality if administered before exposure to disease. The World Health Organization states that vaccines prevent nearly 6 million deaths worldwide each year (Andre, et al., 2008). They also claim that in the United States there has been a 99% decrease in incidence for nine diseases for which vaccines have been commonly recommended. Fourth, another.