A recent CDC investigation shows that a measles outbreak in southern San Diego was caused by parents refusing to have their children vaccinated, even though it is required in many states by law.  Because measles is one of the world’s most highly contagious diseases, this new trend of refusing vaccinations is becoming more and more alarming to the CDC who fears a new, more powerful measles outbreak could be looming.  But how could this be?  Many are blaming ever increasing worry and misinformation about the overall safety of these vaccines.

The CDC is quite concerned about the signs that more and more important vaccinations are being outright refused by many concerned, and sometimes misinformed parents.  These parents in question believe that many of these vaccines for the measles, mumps, rubella, are as dangerous as these diseases themselves.  These beliefs have developed as a result of  the growing concerns over the overall safety of vaccines, and if they are really as effective as previously believed.  This recent trend, combined with more misinformation about the safety of certain vaccines has lead to a major drop-off in MMR vaccinations in certain places in the world, and this has corresponded to a subsequent return in the incidence of measles.

The CDC believes that much of this battle over vaccines is over more and more activist misinformation distributed about vaccine safety, and an overall growing distrust of the pharmaceutical industry as a whole.  When many of the parents refusing vaccinations were asked why they chose not to vaccinate their children they told officials that they were skeptical over the overall safety of vaccines, and skeptical about claims from the government.  When asked where they got this information, many were unsure, but many said they had heard varied concerns from other parents.

The CDC feels that because diseases like the mumps, rubella, even polio, have been absent from our modern day society for a long period, many feel that they are naturally impervious to these dangerous and deadly diseases.  And this simply is just not true.  Many respondents even felt that their natural lifestyles including prolonged breastfeeding and organic foods were enough to keep such dangerous diseases at bay.  Others felt that these said vaccines could potentially damage their child’s immune systems or even cause serious neurological complications such as mental retardation or autism.  But the CDC claims that these beliefs are simply unfounded on scientific evidence.

Despite the extraordinary efforts of health workers all around the world to advocate for the safety of these vaccines, many parents are still not convinced.  Even with the volume of scientific evidence supporting the safety of vaccines, many parents still feel that if they were to have a vaccine administered to their child, and something were to go wrong, they would be responsible.  However, many of those in the pharmaceutical and medical profession including doctors, health advocates, and life sciences consulting firms all agree that not doing anything is far worse than the possible side effects that vaccines may or may not have on your children.

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