Inside Job (movie & paper)

Nowadays there is a lot of debate when it comes to addressing people’s attitude towards vaccination. While many professional organizations and agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasize the importance of scheduled vaccinations, advocates of the anti-immunization movement endorse the view that vaccinations are unsafe and potentially harmful. As Johnstone (2017) states,” mistrust in science has compromised the possibility of engaging in sound policy analysis owing partially to justified concerns by anti-vaccination proponents regarding outright manipulation and undue interference for commercial interests”. Claims by such supporters have motivated a number of parents to refuse their children the right to obtain immunizations. In spite of this, overwhelming evidence continues to support the efficacy of immunizations on various public health outcomes. For example, Dube, Vivion, and MacDonald (2015) affirm that over the years, immunization programs have contributed greatly to declines in morbidity and mortality of infectious diseases including the eradication of poliomyelitis in the Americas. The CDC in conjunction with other federal, state, and local agencies has implemented a policy named Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program that seeks to improve vaccination rates and counter the advocates of the anti-vaccination movement (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014).

Vaccinations is one of the most critical preventive health measures responsible for saving millions of lives. According to the report by the CDC (2014), routine childhood vaccinations provided between 1994 and 2013 will prevent approximately 322 million illnesses, save an estimated 732,000 million lives, and prevent 21 million hospitalizations in the course of the vaccinated children’s lifetime. Moreover, the report by the CDC (2014) affirmed that routine vaccinations have the potential of saving US healthcare costs by $295 million in direct expenditures and $1.38 trillion in societal costs associated with illnesses preventable via vaccinations. Hence, in conjunction with other federal, state, and local agencies, the CDC has spearheaded the implementation of a policy dubbed the “Vaccines for Children (VFC)” Program that seeks to increase vaccination coverage to children under the age of 18 who are eligible to the program (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). This policy additionally seeks to dispel rumors, myths, and unfounded allegations that proponents of the anti-vaccination movement have voiced regarding the safety and efficacy of immunizations.