Congress examines childhood vaccine safety

Vaccine safety skeptics are often thought to be more likely to self-identify as Democrats (vs. Independents or Republicans). Recent studies, however, suggest that childhood vaccine misinformation is either more common among Republicans, or is uninfluenced by partisan identification (PID). Uncertainty about the partisan underpinnings of vaccine misinformation acceptance is important, as it could complicate efforts to pursue pro-vaccine health policies. I theorize that Republicans should be more likely to endorse anti-vaccine misinformation, as they tend to express more-negative views toward scientific experts. Across six demographically and nationally representative surveys, I find that—while few Americans think that “anti-vaxxers” are more likely to be Republicans than Democrats—Republican PID is significantly associated with the belief that childhood vaccines can cause autism. Consistent with theoretical expectations, effect is strongly mediated by anti-expert attitudes—an effect which supplemental panel analyses suggest is unlikely to be reverse causal.

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Danish 2011 update on childhood vaccine safety

Reactions Weekly ◽

10.2165/00128415-201113780-00004 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol &NA; (1378) ◽

pp. 2

Author(s):

&NA;

Keyword(s):

Vaccine Safety ◽

Childhood Vaccine

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Quality of HMO Vaccination Databases Used to Monitor Childhood Vaccine Safety

American Journal of Epidemiology ◽

10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009785 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 149 (2) ◽

pp. 186-194 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

J. Mullooly ◽

L. Drew ◽

F. DeStefano ◽

R. Chen ◽

K. Okoro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vaccine Safety ◽

Childhood Vaccine

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A randomised controlled trial to compare opt-in and opt-out parental consent for childhood vaccine safety surveillance using data linkage

Journal of Medical Ethics ◽

10.1136/medethics-2011-100145 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 38 (10) ◽

pp. 619-625 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Jesia G Berry ◽

Philip Ryan ◽

Michael S Gold ◽

Annette J Braunack-Mayer ◽

Katherine M Duszynski ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Randomised Controlled Trial ◽

Data Linkage ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Vaccine Safety ◽

Parental Consent ◽

Safety Surveillance ◽

Opt Out ◽

Childhood Vaccine ◽

Using Data ◽

Randomised Controlled

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Quantifying The Effect of Wakefield et al. (1998) on Skepticism about MMR Vaccine Safety in the U.S.

10.31235/osf.io/7wjb2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Matt Motta ◽

Dominik Stecula

Keyword(s):

Media Coverage ◽

Causal Effect ◽

Vaccine Safety ◽

Preliminary Evidence ◽

Vaccine Uptake ◽

Public Confidence ◽

Mmr Vaccine ◽

Media Attention ◽

News Stories ◽

Childhood Vaccine

Background. Efforts to trace the rise of childhood vaccine safety concerns in the US often suggest Andrew Wakefield and colleagues’ retracted 1998 Lancet study (AW98) – which alleged that the MMR vaccine can cause children to develop autism – as a primary cause of US vaccine skepticism. However, a lack of public opinion data on MMR safety collected before/after AW98’s publication obscures whether anecdotal accounts are indicative of a potentially-causal effect. Methods. We address this problem using a regression discontinuity framework to study change in monthly MMR injury claims (N = 74,850; from 1990-2019) from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) to proxy concern about vaccine safety. Additionally, we suggest a potential mechanism for the effect of AW98 on vaccine skepticism, via automated sentiment analyses of MMR-related news stories (N = 674; from 1996-2000) in major television and newspaper outlets. Results. AW98 led to an immediate increase of about 70 MMR injury claims cases per month, averaging across six estimation strategies (meta-analytic effect = 70.44 [52.19, 88.75], p < 0.01). Preliminary evidence suggests that the volume of negative media attention to MMR increased in the weeks following AW98’s publication, across four estimation strategies (meta-analytic effect = 9.59% [3.66, 15.51], p < 0.01).Conclusions. Vaccine skepticism increased following the publication of AW98, which was potentially made possible by increased negative media coverage of MMR. Significance. Childhood vaccine skepticism presents an important challenge to widespread vaccine uptake, and undermines support for pro-vaccine health policies. In addition to advancing our understanding of the previously-obscured origins of US vaccine skepticism, our work cautions that high-profile media attention to inaccurate scientific studies can undermine public confidence in vaccines. We conclude by offering several recommendations that researchers and health communicators might consider to detect and address future threats to vaccine confidence.

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A pre and post intervention study measuring the effect of interactive education on adolescent perceptions of vaccines, vaccine safety and disease risk

Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/pubmed/fdz089 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 (3) ◽

pp. e272-e277

Author(s):

Jaymie-lynn Blanchard ◽

Caitlin Johnson ◽

Margaret McIntyre ◽

Natasha S Crowcroft ◽

Andrea McLellan

Keyword(s):

Perceived Risk ◽

Disease Risk ◽

Vaccine Safety ◽

Post Intervention ◽

Vaccine Preventable Diseases ◽

Interactive Education ◽

Before And After ◽

Chi Squared ◽

Childhood Vaccine ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background Adolescents make decisions about their own vaccinations and will be the childhood vaccine decision makers of tomorrow. It is therefore essential to educate adolescents about the risks of vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization safety. This study evaluated the impact of an interactive education initiative among adolescents at a high school in North Bay Ontario. Methods An anonymized questionnaire to assess students’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about immunization and vaccine-preventable diseases was administered before and after delivering an interactive session. Chi-squared and Kruskal-Wallis tests were performed to test for differences between pre and post responses. Results The intervention increased the students’ awareness that measles is a disease that affects their generation (P < 0.05). Improvements were also noted in the perceived risk of pertussis (P < 0.05) and tetanus (0.05). After the session, respondents were also more willing to participate with their parents in decisions affecting their healthcare (P < 0.05). Students’ perception of vaccine safety also improved (P < 0.001). Conclusions Post survey results suggest that the interactive educational intervention had a positive effect on the adolescents’ perceptions and attitudes towards immunization. Further research is required to determine the impact of this type of intervention on adolescents’ future decision-making with respect to immunization.

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Quantifying the effect of Wakefield et al. (1998) on skepticism about MMR vaccine safety in the U.S.

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0256395 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (8) ◽

pp. e0256395

Author(s):

Matthew Motta ◽

Dominik Stecula

Keyword(s):

Media Coverage ◽

Causal Effect ◽

Vaccine Safety ◽

Preliminary Evidence ◽

Vaccine Uptake ◽

Public Confidence ◽

Mmr Vaccine ◽

Media Attention ◽

News Stories ◽

Childhood Vaccine

Background Efforts to trace the rise of childhood vaccine safety concerns in the US often suggest Andrew Wakefield and colleagues’ retracted 1998 Lancet study (AW98)–which alleged that the MMR vaccine can cause children to develop autism–as a primary cause of US vaccine skepticism. However, a lack of public opinion data on MMR safety collected before/after AW98’s publication obscures whether anecdotal accounts are indicative of a potentially-causal effect. Methods We address this problem using a regression discontinuity framework to study change in monthly MMR injury claims (N = 74,850; from 1990–2019) from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) to proxy concern about vaccine safety. Additionally, we suggest a potential mechanism for the effect of AW98 on vaccine skepticism, via automated sentiment analyses of MMR-related news stories (N = 674; from 1996–2000) in major television and newspaper outlets. Results AW98 led to an immediate increase of about 70 MMR injury claims cases per month, averaging across six estimation strategies (meta-analytic effect = 70.44 [52.19, 88.75], p < 0.01). Preliminary evidence suggests that the volume of negative media attention to MMR increased in the weeks following AW98’s publication, across four estimation strategies (meta-analytic effect = 9.59% [3.66, 15.51], p < 0.01). Conclusions Vaccine skepticism increased following the publication of AW98, which was potentially made possible by increased negative media coverage of MMR. Significance Childhood vaccine skepticism presents an important challenge to widespread vaccine uptake, and undermines support for pro-vaccine health policies. In addition to advancing our understanding of the previously-obscured origins of US vaccine skepticism, our work cautions that high-profile media attention to inaccurate scientific studies can undermine public confidence in vaccines. We conclude by offering several recommendations that researchers and health communicators might consider to detect and address future threats to vaccine confidence.

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A randomised controlled trial to compare opt-in and opt-out parental consent for childhood vaccine safety surveillance using data linkage: study protocol

Trials ◽

10.1186/1745-6215-12-1 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Jesia G Berry ◽

◽

Philip Ryan ◽

Annette J Braunack-Mayer ◽

Katherine M Duszynski ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Data Linkage ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Vaccine Safety ◽

Linkage Study ◽

Parental Consent ◽

Safety Surveillance ◽

Opt Out ◽

Childhood Vaccine ◽

Using Data ◽

Randomised Controlled

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The Fight Against Doubt

10.1093/oso/9780190869229.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Inmaculada de Melo-Martín ◽

Kristen Intemann

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Scientific Community ◽

Vaccine Safety ◽

False Beliefs ◽

Scientific Process ◽

The Public ◽

Scientific Consensus ◽

Scientific Claims

Current debates about climate change or vaccine safety provide an alarming illustration of the potential impacts of dissent about scientific claims. False beliefs about evidence and the conclusions that can be drawn from it are commonplace, as is corrosive doubt about the existence of widespread scientific consensus. Deployed aggressively and to political ends, ill-founded dissent can intimidate scientists, stymie research, and lead both the public and policymakers to oppose important policies firmly rooted in science. To criticize dissent is, however, a fraught exercise. Skepticism and fearless debate are key to the scientific process, making it both vital and incredibly difficult to characterize and identify dissent that is problematic in its approach and consequences. Indeed, as de Melo-Martín and Intemann show, the criteria commonly proposed as means of identifying inappropriate dissent are flawed, and the strategies generally recommended to tackle such dissent are not only ineffective but could even make the situation worse. The Fight against Doubt proposes that progress on this front can best be achieved by enhancing the trustworthiness of the scientific community and being more realistic about the limits of science when it comes to policymaking. It shows that a richer understanding is needed of the context in which science operates so as to disarm problematic dissent and those who deploy it in the pursuit of their goals.

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