World Health Organisation names anti-vax movement a global health threat

The World Health Organisation has said that the anti-vax movement is one of the biggest health risks to be faced in 2019.

'Vaccine hesitation' has been listed as one of the top ten global health threats. This is the first time that anti-vaccination has made it onto the list. Other threats listed were HIV and Ebola. The anti-vaccination movement has become widespread and the effects of it are beginning to show. In recent years conditions like measles have risen globally by 30 per cent and diseases that were thought to have been almost eradicated are beginning to resurge. A drop in the numbers of children being vaccinated is also extremely dangerous to those unable to receive vaccinations. This includes those with medical conditions that prevent them from being vaccinated and small infants. A large issue with the anti-vax movement is a lack of evidence to back up their belief that vaccinations cause medical conditions like autism. The original doctor who claimed that this was true was later debunked and had to retract his statement. This has not stopped the movement from growing, and now it has been named as dangerous as HIV, Ebola and cancer. Despite the large numbers of parents refraining from vaccinating their children, recent developments have had the opposite effect when it comes to how most parents feel on the subject. Recently in Ireland, there have been several fatal cases of meningitis. Because of this, many parents are now calling for the government to make all types of meningitis vaccines free to children of all ages. That being said, unless vaccination uptake improves we could see a rise in the number of children being diagnosed with meningitis and similar conditions.