A woman named Kristen O’Meara has changed her position from being an avid anti-vaxxer after her three unvaccinated children got ill. In addition, she and her husband both fell victim to the sickness. She has since gotten all of her children vaccinated. O’Meara made the decision to not give her children those vaccinations after she did extensive research on her own. However, she notes that she only studied those materials which opposed vaccines.
Said O’Meara, “I’m here because I wanted to share my personal story … and if it does help someone change their mind, then that’s great.” The trend of parents to not vaccinate originates largely from a 1998 study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, wherein the doctor found a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. However, this report ended up being largely false and misleading, and he lost his license to practice medicine in 2010.
Some celebrities have led the way in opposing vaccination, including Jenny McCarthy. This kind of celebrity involvement has unfortunately lent illegitimate credence to the fears of parents. Though mothers and fathers wish to do well by their children, this misinformation has guided some in the wrong direction.
O’Meara is an archetypal example of this kind of parent. She thought that she was doing the right research, but she failed to avoid confirmation bias. Fortunately, she has found the truth soon enough to hopefully rectify the situation for her children’s sake. One can only hope that other anti-vaxxer parents also find more correct information so that society can near closer to eradicating these many communicable diseases once and for all.
Watch Penn and Teller take on the anti-vaxxer movement:
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