What are we doing with the anti-vaccine movement that is attacking the world public health and who counts Donald Trump among its activists?

The clearest thing about the anti-vaccine movement is that there is a deep ideological crack, hard to navigate – and fix – for the experts themselves. Many scientists, infectious disease specialists and physicians generally believe that the anti-vaccine movement has developed precisely because of the visibility given to this group by the media, and therefore believe that they should not even be named.

The other party, at least by the way, believes the opposite. That you must fight them. That there is a fierce scientific and cultural battle against the damage caused by anti-vaccines to public health around the world, with its monotonous preaching that includes that it's not necessary to 39 to be vaccinated to avoid introducing into the body viruses and substances that can make a child sick, be triggers for autism. Nothing is farther from the protective role that vaccinations have played during the course of history

This 2019, has been declared the state of emergency in the county of Rockland At New York. Even the problem has worsened, when it was discovered, according to local media, that the Orthodox Jewish community of Brooklyn had declared that "there is no greater threat to the public health than vaccines, "he said verbatim. Vaccine safety manual, a publication for parents who have circulated in this community.

In 2017 at Ukraine has started a strong measles epidemic and only 70 000 cases have been reported in this countrymore than in any other country in recent years. In 2018 the epidemic broke out in Israel and that year too, it intensified in Europe, more specifically in the United Kingdom and in the United States. In North America, the turning point was the 2015 Disney epidemic, which toughened a bit the California vaccine laws. From there to today, several cases have been detected in Indonesia, Philippines, Madagascar and Venezuela.

As recently warned by the World Health Organization (WHO), "opposition to the administration of vaccines threatens progress in the treatment of vaccine-preventable diseases." Today & # 39; hui, vaccines prevent up to 3 million deaths a year, and if more people had access, an additional 1.5 million deaths could be prevented.

Consulted by Infobae doctor Daniel Stamboulian Argentine infectious expert was categorical"Vaccines have been and are, after drinking water, the most important elements for the reduction of diseases and deaths."

Stamboulian said: "The so-called anti-vaccine groups have no scientific support to support them.Where there is a vaccine capable of preventing a disease, it is always better to get vaccinated than to suffer. of infection, think that if the person who falls ill belongs to a group at risk, it can have serious complications and even lose their lives "

Five essential points for a complex problem

The issue of anti-vaccines has several specificities and deserves to be examined to understand why this phenomenon is unique and complex. Here are five points.

1-The majority of activists of the anti-vaccine movement are parents. These data give you the messages a power of pregnancy very powerful: they arrive, they are transmitted and they are installed within the house. And that makes the cultural battle and then banish beliefs and myths more difficult to give.

2-EAnti-vaccine rhetoric has also been installed in part of the global scientific and medical community. For this reason, in many medical consultations do not prescribe or control vaccines corresponding to the obligatory calendar, according to the place and the age of the child. Others, more daring, suggest substituting vaccination for "natural methods", such as homeopathy, to strengthen the immune system, without scientific foundation.

3-There are the famous spokespersons antivacunas and the stars of the Hollywood firmament, like the former Playboy bunny, Jenny McCarthy, became a committed and global activist. He amplified the message to Jim Carrey, who was his partner for a few years. Robert De Niro is another famous anti-vaccine, also father of a child with ASD. Celebrities have not only drawn attention to the problem, they have also helped turn the anti-immunization trend into a trend in the affluent areas of the West Coast and Midwest, such as Colorado, Califormia, and Malibu Beaches. .

This one is the enigmatic and controversial tweet that Trump published during the election campaign against Hillary: "Healthy children go to the doctor, they inject several different vaccines, they do not feel well and they change. Autism Many cases!

5- the other The collateral theme of anti-vaccines is the B side of globalization, only for the mobile and fast logic from this time he increases his dangerousness. The constant amount of migrant populations and groups each group of people left unattended, without immunization, can have a direct and negative impact around the world, as people spread viruses, bacteria and germs as they move.

For Silvia Gold, medical biochemist and president of the Mundo Sano Foundation, antimicrobial resistance ("anti-vaccine") movements pose a threat to global public health. I still think of forming a "provacuna group ", raise awareness and inform about the transcendental importance of vaccination to eradicate serious diseases. It is sad to think that a father decides not to vaccinate his son, it is not an individual problem but a question of social protection ".

Perez Amaya shot a disturbing number: "It is estimated that about 30 million people will be born each year, 10% will not receive vaccines, This is how the social protection system is exposed to viruses and threatening epidemics. That is, one in five will not be vaccinated. It is a very weak overall protection system. "

Vaccines are the most effective preventive interventions against many diseases and those that have reduced and avoided the greatest number of deaths for modern societies.

Stamboulian, a specialist in infectious diseases in Argentina, badyzed the status of anti-vaccine groups in Argentina: "In our country, anti-vaccine groups have never been able to develop, thanks in part to a strong network of groups medical scientists such as the Argentine Society of Infectious Diseases (SADI), FUNCEI teams, public health professionals and others working together to fight against those people who, without fundamental principles, endanger their lives children and the elderly by not receiving vaccines "