Are vaccines really that important? Do they actually prevent disease?
While vaccines were once a revolutionary discovery in medicine, in recent years there has been a significant rise in vaccine hesitancy. “Vaccine hesitancy” is defined by the WHO as delaying or refusing to take a vaccine, despite the vaccine being readily available. They say it is a combination of various factors, including complacency, convenience and confidence in the vaccine. Vaccine hesitancy is on the rise, and diseases that had at one point been for the most part eradicated in the United States, like measles, are suddenly returning to the US. Vaccine hesitancy can be seen very clearly with the new COVID-19 vaccine. According to recent research, upwards of 60% of Americans have some level of hesitancy towards receiving the vaccine. At least 17% of people are conspiracy believers and had outlandish or harmful theories concerning the vaccine. These people…
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