“The anti-vaxxer is a specter,” says Greenberg. Stop thinking of all people who don’t vaccinate as anti-vaxxers Though we don’t have definite answers yet, they have unearthed some promising strategies.
TIRED OF ANTI GAY MEMES HOW TO
The good news is that researchers like Greenberg are looking into how to best talk to people who are reluctant to vaccinate their kids. But people who don’t vaccinate are often more educated than the general public, and better off as well. “One of the misperceptions is that people don’t get their kids immunized because they simply don’t understand,” he says. Nor does acting like they’re dumb or misinformed. Vilifying people who don’t vaccinate doesn’t help the situation, says Joshua Greenberg, director of the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University and a researcher in this field. Heated debates and pleas to vaccinate are happening everywhere from Facebook to the doctor’s office – but most of those conversations don’t change people’s minds. And even MMR rates differ across the country, so there are pockets with much lower vaccination rates: Most schools in Vancouver have vaccination rates that are too low for herd immunity, with some as low as 15 percent.Įvery new vaccination story seems to be used as an opportunity to rail against anti-vaxxers, who are spoken about with the same disdain as flat earthers. That’s well below the 90 percent needed for herd immunity – where enough children are vaccinated to protect the whole community, including those with allergies or immune conditions that mean they can’t be vaccinated. Vaccinations for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and chickenpox are lower, with rates in the 70th percentiles. Eighty nine percent of toddlers have been vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) as well as me ningococcal diseases, and 91 percent have gotten the polio vaccine.
One reason is because Canada’s vaccination rates are too low. These stories are no longer uncommon there have been outbreaks of measles in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario in recent years. This week, Toronto Public Health warned that a young adult in the city had the measles, after getting it while travelling.