The M.M.R. vaccine has nearly eradicated measles in the United States, but a persistent myth linking the vaccine to autism has led some communities to resist vaccination.
The government has resisted vaccination because current tests cannot distinguish between an infected animal and a vaccinated one.
Now more people come up to polio workers and demand that their children be vaccinated, a significant shift from their earlier stance where certain communities strongly resisted vaccination drives.
In Nigeria, for instance, some parents are more concerned about the lack of access to basic medical care than about a disease that is usually not life-threatening, and thus resist vaccination.
As James Fallows notes, American officials are defending this operation, not denying it.This is despicable and stupid.All over the world, poor people resist vaccination campaigns in the belief that they are part of a plot by powerful authorities to take advantage of them.
A local politician had also been spreading rumors that Ebola was not real, and some in the area had resisted vaccination and treatment, according to Coulibaly.
Our study identified that parents tended to delay, rather than refuse vaccination, and that when parents resist vaccination, clinicians often do not directly address their concerns, contributing to the postponement of vaccination.
Ever since smallpox was eradicated from human populations decades ago, federal officials have resisted mass vaccination because the vaccine uses a live virus that can cause severe side effects and even kill.
Altmann, who is also a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, said she is seeing "fewer and fewer families" who are resisting her recommendations for vaccinations.
