For years there was and continues to be a movement to protest vaccines on claims that they

cause neurological problems like autism. The reasons for standing against them among the protesters
range from fears of mercury poisoning to fears that the amount of vaccinations will overwhelm the
patients immune systems. Much like the reasons, the people against vaccines are varied as well.
Celebrities, parents, talk show hosts, many online organizations, and even some news outlets have
taken an active stance against vaccines for their own reasons. In support of vaccines, the medical
community, and almost all scientists uphold that theres no connection between vaccines and
neurological problems. !side from "ust the medical community, many people in the general public side
with the doctors and researchers on the issue. I want to know what viewpoints each group holds, and
how these views and the anti#vaccine movement in general are affecting communities and populations
of people around the world. Three groups that affect the issue are the medical and scientific
community$ parents who are against the administration of vaccinations$ and celebrities such as %enny
McCarthy who campaign against vaccinations.
The scientific and medical communities see the anti#vaccination movement as harmful for
public health, and have tried encouraging people to continue vaccinating their children inspite of its
message. &'et a source discussing the fasle study that was redacted( The vaccine controversy started
when a study was published by &)!M* +F ,CI*)TI,T( that linked MM- &Measles.( vaccines to
autism in young children. In response to this study scientists and researchers conducted several
additional studies to check the data, all of which found no connection between any vaccines and
neurological problems. /ecause of this research done by several groups, the medical community has no
doubt that vaccines are not linked to autism. It was later revealed that the researcher that did the
original study had been paid by lawyers attempting a lawsuit that depended on there being a link
between autism and vaccines, which only served to further convinced scientists that there was no link.
,ome researchers have even gone so far as to start looking for the reasoning flaws that lead parents and
communities to believe that there is a link &%acobson 0(. +ne of the main reasonign flaws that the
researchers pointed out was wishful thinking. They think the paretns may be more willing to find a
connection between vaccines and autism, since it would actually give the disorder an origin. The causes
of autism arent yet fully known, and doctors have to tell parents that they simply dont know. Finding
that connection would atleast give parents hope that they could pervent future cases of autism, and
maybe even help their own child since they found the cause. 1ope like that is tempting, and can make
people want to believe things.
!nother viewpoint is that of the parents who believe that vaccines are linked to autism. They
believe that an ingredient that was previously used in vaccines called thimerosal caused autism in their
children, and because of this belief, many have decided to not get their children vaccinated. &Fulbright(
Many parents believe that by removing the heavy metals and thimerosal through chelation therapy or
other means, they can improve their childrens mental health, and possibly even reverse the affects of
autism. Chelation hasnt been proven to do any of these things, and is considered risky by most of the
medical community,but continues to be encouraged by some doctors. )ormally chelation is used to
treat victims of industrial accidents who may have been e2posed to abnormal amounts of heavy metals
or neuron#to2ins, but its use in treating autism is not widely approved.