Change Your World Week Fall 2021 (Archived)

          Superman and kryptonite, Batman and the Joker, Thor and Loki are just a few of conflicts where a hero has met their most formidable opponents. Now immunizations turn. Viruses and bacteria are still living with us every day and can infect people who have not been immunized. Vaccines are an important part of staying healthy, just like eating well, exercising, and seeing your doctor on a regular basis. In the United States, vaccinations have saved over a billion lives and avoided innumerable illnesses and disabilities, making vaccines a hero in our eyes. However, when it comes to vaccinations, viruses/dangerous microbes, and misinformation, are currently the two biggest villains. However, dangerous microbes have been present for years and vaccinations can handle them on their own; however, misleading information... this new foe, has caused humans to lose sight of the wonderful influence immunizations have had on the world. It is our obligation to bring that vision back to life. But, before we can help this hero, we need to know where it came from.

Dr. Edward Jenner- The father of immunizations

          Vaccination can be traced back to its father, Dr. Edward Jenner. Vaccine development started more than two centuries ago when English doctor Edward Jenner treated a young boy by injecting him with pus from cowpox blisters found on a milkmaid's hands in 1796. The vaccine virus, which causes smallpox, is found in cowpox. The injection vaccinated the kid against smallpox. This was the beginning and would later be the start of individuals having the choice to adequately protect themselves against killers like polio, measles, mumps, and rubella.

Gehlbach discovered the following:

          “Jenner noted that the lesion induced by vaccinations was similar in appearance and healed in much the same way as incisions inoculated with actual smallpox virus. Then Jenner performed the real test. Six weeks after the vaccination, he obtained infectious material from the pustule of a smallpox patient and inoculated it onto both of the little boys’ arms. Jenner watched him carefully for the next two weeks. The incisions became slightly red, tender, no pustules, no fever, and no smallpox.”

          We're probably sick of hearing the phrase COVID and the number 19, but with COVID-19 being so ubiquitous in our lives today, we believe it's necessary to clarify how vaccinations function, particularly in the context of the Coronavirus. According to the National Health Service In the past, most individuals were unconcerned with vaccine ingredients and have little knowledge of them; nevertheless, because the COVID-19 immunization is so new, most are unaware of what's in it and that makes them hesitant to receive this vaccination.

          So, what exactly is a Vaccine? According to the Center of disease Control and Prevention "A vaccine is a preparation that is used to stimulate the body's immune response against diseases" (CDC, 2021) A little amount of bacterium, virus, or toxin that has been weakened or "destroyed" in a laboratory is the main element in any vaccine. "Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections but some can be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose. Vaccination is when an introduction of a vaccine is made into the body to produce some type of immunity from a specific illness." (CDC, 2021)

          To assist everyone understand how immunizations work, we wanted to showcase how they work. Here's a fantastic short animation that will help you visualize what was just spoken and explain how COVID-19 vaccine is given and works in the body.

          Vaccine confidence can be harmed by the dissemination of misinformation and disinformation on social media and through other avenues. When there are knowledge gaps or unresolved science, human nature attempts to reason, better comprehend, and fill in the gaps, which leads to misinformation. Disinformation, on the other side, is intentionally manufactured and spread inaccurate information with hostile purpose. Fortunately, disinformation isn't as widespread as misinformation, but both can have an impact on vaccine trust and vaccination rates. The majority of the misinformation and deception surrounding vaccinations has focused on vaccine development, safety, and efficacy.

Trust

          According to the Center for disease control “ It’s critical for health departments to secure their community’s trust. As a health department leader, you can achieve this by fostering strong partnerships with organizations trusted by community members and being responsive to people’s concerns.” Building trust is vital in any relationship especially when it concerns your health. Without trust, the process of informed permission for even the most simple of treatments, such as a prescribed antibiotic, would become as time-consuming as the process of informed consent for major surgical procedures. Building trust also ensures a better health outcome for the patient.

The impact

          Not just through social media, but also through fraudulent studies, misinformation is transmitted. One prevalent myth about vaccination is that it has a direct link with autism. According to Webster's dictionary Autism can be defined as “any of a group of developmental disorders (such as autism and Asperger's syndrome) marked by impairments in the ability to communicate and interact socially and by the presence of repetitive behaviors or restricted interests” ( Webster, 2021) However Andrew Wakefield, a British anti-vaccine activist, defines autism as a vaccination.

          He was a disgraced scholar and former physician who was removed from the medical registration for his role in the Lancet MMR autism scam. Although the report was published in 1998, the British General Medical Council discovered that Wakefield had lied about his findings. On the basis of the GMC's findings, The Lancet has totally withdrawn, saying that aspects of his writings had been fabricated and that Wakefield had mislead the journal. He was removed from the UK medical registration later that year and is no longer allowed to practice medicine. According to the US National Library of Medicine, there is no relationship between Autism and the MMR vaccination.

Conspiracy

          The Autism Conspiracy isn't the only vaccine-related conspiracy theory. According to a new myth that has recently circulated, mRNA immunizations can affect our DNA if injected and change who we are. This, however, is not the case! Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, who possesses a master's degree in public health and a Doctoral degree in epidemiology and biostatistics, writes a paper that brilliantly debunks this lie. According to Dr. Jetelina, “Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines (like Pfizer and Moderna) do not alter your DNA. In fact, they lack all of the basic requirements necessary to alter DNA. In other words, it’s biologically impossible.” Many other of these claims brought on by anti vaccine activist have been proven false and have had their claims discredited and taken down from any form of information handed out to the public. 

According to her work several events would have to occur for an mRNA vaccine to alter someone's DNA...

•  mRNA would need to enter the cell nucleus, where DNA lives. However, mRNA do not have the “secret door code” (called) nuclear access signal) that would allow it to enter. mRNA vaccines can’t get in.
• If the mRNA vaccine did get in (which it won’t), mRNA would have to be then converted to DNA. This would require a tool called “reverse transcriptase”, which the vaccine doesn’t have.
• Also, if it made it into the nucleus, mRNA would then to need to insert itself into the DNA. The mRNA would need a tool called “integrase” to do this, which the vaccine doesn’t have.

          The professionals that have kept spreading misinformation as such will have to face the consequences such as being removed from any medial field table or group. They will also have their medical and/or professional license stripped from them, and any research done in the regards to vaccines that has been proven false will also be discredited and not to be shared with the public. 

If vaccinations stopped

           According to the CDC, In the United States, widespread vaccination has resulted in a 99.9% reduction in measles cases when compared to the pre-vaccine era. If immunization were to take a decline, measles would return. It doesn’t stop there; a massive resurgence of pertussis, known as whooping cough, would occur if the United States stopped providing vaccinations against the pertussis disease. Congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) has also decreased significantly because of the rubella vaccines. And once again, if we stopped rubella vaccinations, immunity to rubella would wane and rubella would resurface, resulting in pregnant women giving birth to infants with CRS (“”What would happen if we stopped vaccinations.””, 2021, para.)
 

          The solution to combating misinformation will have to be breaking down the misinformation and providing facts. According to the CDC "this is done by Warning the audience upfront that misleading information is coming, Using fewer arguments to refute the myth, and Keeping the factual statements simple" (CDC, 2021)

Expert opinions 

It is believed that expressing and confirming accurate facts, as well as providing the public with professional guidance and solutions to vaccine-related issues, would assist reduce skepticism among anti-vaccine activists and those who are too cautious to make a choice.

Dr. Anthony Fauci

          An American physician-scientist and immunologist, made countless public appearances at numerous press conferences, urging everyone to get vaccinated whenever possible.

Walter A. Orenstein and Rafi Ahmed

          Walter A. Orenstein and Rafi Ahmed states, vaccines have reduced infection-related diseases and death. Several diseases have been eradicated, including small pox, and congenital rubella syndrome. Additionally, they can help the community by reducing the spread of infection to a wider population by protecting those who have already been immunized. This also helps prevent an outbreak through the method of herd immunity which is a technique used to reduced the likelihood of infection for those who lack immunity for these people can get very sick extremely fast. 

Dr. Rochelle Walensky

          A director of CDC, spoke on an NPR with Audie Cornish and they discussed the Covid-19 and immunizations. Dr. Walensky states the following "Perhaps we're seeing breakthrough infections at a higher rate than we would like to see, but we're also seeing that if you've been vaccinated, you have less severe disease, less transmission and less death" (Cornish et al., 2021)

Other influencers

George Washington

          General George Washington ordered his men to be vaccinated against smallpox when the 13 colonies that would form the United States of America after the Revolutionary War. Variolation was the best defense against smallpox, a disease that would kill entire villages when it arrived in merchant ships before Jenner's smallpox vaccine. General George Washington issued the command in 1777, and it would prove to be one of the pivotal moments in the struggle for independence's victory (Celebrities have influence on vaccination, 2021)

Elvis Presley
          Elvis Presley took the Salk polio vaccination in 1956 as a public show of support for the vaccine. It marked the start of a successful effort to eradicate polio from the United States once and for all, as well as the culmination of the findings of a vaccination study completed in the preceding months, which demonstrated the vaccine's efficacy. (Celebrities have influence on vaccination, 2021)

Celebrities have influence on vaccination. Celebrities Have Influence on Vaccination | History of  Vaccines. (n.d.). Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/blog/vaccine-celebrities.

​​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, August 16). Ways Health Departments can help increase COVID-19 vaccinations. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/generate-vaccinations.html. 

Cornish, A., Hodges, L., & Intagliata, C. (2021, June 25). CDC director Rochelle Walensky on Coronavirus variants and vaccinations. NPR. Retrieved October 27, 2021, from https://www.npr.org/2021/06/25/1010382462/cdc-director-rochelle-walensky-on-coronavirus-variants-and-vaccinations.

GEHLBACH, S. T. E. P. H. E. N. H. (2017). American plagues: Lessons from our battles 
with disease. ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD. 

Jetelina, K. (2021, January 13). MRNA and DNA. YLE. Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/mrna-and-dna?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=&fbclid=IwAR1ZYnDtFmEVYNHvss3FMGumnotLjaFQl_4lkdtm4gkXbHdOW49loLFPb9E. 

Rao, T. S. S., & Andrade, C. (2011, April). The MMR vaccine and autism: Sensation, refutation, retraction, and fraud. Indian journal of psychiatry. Retrieved November 6, 2021, from ttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136032/

What would happen if we stopped vaccinations. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://www.orau.gov/cdcynergy/web/im/Content/activeinformation/resources/IM_what_would_hpn.pdf.