Human life has always been stalked by disease. For bacteria, viruses, and parasites, our bodies and our cells are perfect incubators. Every life saved and every quantum of suffering avoided by a vaccine is the legacy of all the physicians and scientists who have ever devoted themselves to developing or disseminating these life-saving technologies. The anti-vaccination movement has worked its way into the public discourse, motivated by compassion and distrust of authority, experts, corporations, and governments.
So far, the degree of its success has been limited, and the degree of the success of researchers has been great. Researchers’ legacy—those who went on to live long lives free from the diseases that plagued their ancestors—has become a part of a great human story about the power of ideas to conquer illness. That story is one that we must continue to tell. We should join voices with those researchers and in harmony sing praise to all of the life that is and was because of human invention and determination, and we should sing louder than those who sing out of key.
When public health workers soon eliminate polio and the suffering it inflicted becomes a memory we can learn about only in books and videos, it will become still harder to convince parents and patients of the importance of vaccination. The very presence of those who oppose vaccination are in that way a testament the effectiveness of vaccines. Just as the first anti-vaccine movements arose in the decades following the reduction of smallpox to a rare disease, the healthier we become, the harder we will need to work to preserve that health, as well as the advancements we’ve made.
The goal of convincing all parents to vaccinate, as well as to evaluate the risks and benefits of vaccination based on evidence, is one that will almost certainly never be achieved but is eminently worth pursuing. It is but one component of the overall fight against disease, but it is an important one, and one that almost anyone can participate in even without a lab or a medical license. But to be most effective, pro-vaccine activists must base their efforts on methods that are known to work.
Public health advocates are well advised to study the evidence; to use effective strategies when implementing programs aimed at encouraging vaccination; to avoid online confrontations and individual fights; and to focus on positive, socially aware messaging. Finally, we should focus on finding ways to reduce costs and increase access to vaccination for those who are currently undervaccinated but do not want to be.
The anti-vaccine movements of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries have been motivated at their hearts by the desire to be a good parent and do what’s best for one’s children. This desire has been twisted by misinformation distributed by alternative health practitioners seeking to break up evidence’s monopoly on health care, civil libertarians who fear government overreach, lawyers intent on raiding the coffers of government, pharmaceutical companies and clients, unscrupulous doctors willing to lie in order to sell sham treatments, and conspiracy theorists spinning vast and imaginary webs of deceit.
The victory of truth over lies and of information over disinformation is not a foregone conclusion. It is up to each of us to actively work to ensure that politicians who understand the value of science are elected, that clinicians have enough tools to convince patients of the best course of action for their own and their children’s health, and that appealing lies never gain victory over hard-fought truths.