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One of the most controversial areas of health policy over the past two decades has been the safety of immunization. Vaccines prevent the emergence of previously widespread diseases, such as polio, and the scientific consensus strongly reinforces their safety. Yet, many Americans refuse or delay immunization of their children for fear that this may lead to autism, even if the scientific consensus refutes this claim.
Anti-vaccine attitudes were fueled largely by increasing rates of autism diagnoses. as a study now debunked in The Lancet that linked autism and measles vaccine to rubella (MMR) – pushing many parents to view vaccination as a potential explanation for the diagnosis of autism. their child.
The "anti-vax" movement growing here and abroad has seen parents refuse to give their children mandatory vaccinations, a growing number of celebrities questioning about vaccine safety and even the pet owners refusing to vaccinate their dogs.
Given the constant message from the scientific community about the safety of vaccines and the evidence of vaccine success in the eradication of disease, why skepticism about vaccines is important. is he pursued? [19659002] One possibility is that attitudes about medical experts help explain the approval of anti-vax attitudes. Specifically, building on previous research, our research team argues that some American adults might support anti-vax policy positions in part because they believe they know more than medical experts on the subject. autism and its causes. We wanted to test this theory
Skepticism and knowledge of vaccines
Olimpiu Gheorghiu / AP Photos
Vaccination is one of the greatest successes of public health. This led to the eradication of smallpox and the widespread elimination of poliomyelitis. The eradication of an illness means that it has been permanently annihilated and that the intervention efforts are no longer necessary; Smallpox until now is the only disease that has been eradicated. Elimination means a reduction to zero incidence in a specific geographic area as a result of deliberate efforts. Immunization has protected millions of people from the ravages of tetanus, whooping cough and even chickenpox.
And yet, skepticism about vaccines persists, extending into the political realm, with many politicians questioning about vaccine safety. In particular, President Donald Trump questioned the references of doctors calling for immunization, pushed for slower vaccination schedules, and used skeptic Robert Kennedy to chair a task force on vaccine safety
. -vaxxers to accurately assess their own knowledge and skills compared to those of medical experts play a role in shaping their attitudes about vaccines? This inability to accurately assess one's own knowledge is called the Dunning-Kruger effect, first identified in social psychology. Dunning-Kruger effects occur when individuals' lack of knowledge about a particular subject leads them to inaccurately assess their expertise on the subject. Ignorance of one's own ignorance can lead people who lack knowledge about a subject to consider themselves more expert than those who are relatively better informed. We call this "overconfidence".
Dunning-Kruger effects and anti-vax attitudes
Pressmaster / Shutterstock.com [19659009] To test our hypothesis, our research asked more than 1,300 Americans in December 2017 to compare their own perceived levels of knowledge about the causes of autism to those of physicians and scientists. After that, we asked respondents to answer a series of factual questions about autism, as well as the extent to which they agree with the misinformation about a potential link between childhood vaccines and HIV / AIDS. 39; autism.
In our sample, they feel that they know as much or more than scientists about the causes of autism. A little more, or 36%, feel the same about their knowledge compared to that of doctors.
We also found strong evidence of Dunning-Kruger effects in our sample. Sixty-two percent of those who have the least success in our autism knowledge test believe that they know as much or more than doctors and scientists about the causes of autism, compared to only 15% of those who do best. Similarly, 71% of those who strongly agree with the misinformation about the link between vaccines and autism feel that they know as much or more than doctors about the causes of autism, compared with just 28% of those who reject this misinformation the most
. ] We recently published our results in the journal Social Science and Medicine
How Does It Affect Immunization Policy?
Our research also concludes that these Dunning-Kruger effects have important implications for vaccine policy.
In assessing knowledge about autism, our survey asked respondents to share their opinions on several aspects of vaccine policy. For example, we asked respondents whether they supported parents' decisions not to vaccinate their children before sending them to public schools. Respondents can tell us if they strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree or strongly disagree with this statement.
We found that nearly a third or 30% of people think they know more than autism causes strongly support giving parents the latitude to not vaccinate their children. In contrast, 16% of those who do not think they know more than health professionals feel the same way.
Our study also reveals that people who think they know more than medical experts are more likely to trust information-expert sources, such as celebrities. These individuals are also more likely to support an important role for non-experts in the vaccine and vaccine policy development process.
A Tough Battle
In the end, our findings underscore the battle faces the community faces rising anti-vax sentiment from the public and politicians. Even though the mountain of evidence about the safety and importance of vaccines from doctors and scientists continues to grow, many Americans believe that they know more than experts trying to correct their misperceptions.
to a skeptical audience of medical experts should be a priority. Our research suggests that an interesting area for future research could be to examine whether pro-vaccine information from non-expert sources such as celebrities might persuade those with anti-vaccine policy attitudes to change their lives. # 39; s opinion.
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