Are anti-vaccine parents in the grip of mass hysteria?

Vaccination is one the greatest public health advances of all time.

It has saved, and continues to save, literally millions of lives each year, yet many well meaning parents have become convinced that vaccines are harmful and there is no amount of scientific evidence that can convince them otherwise.

As Rachel Burke reports in The Olympian, We’re hard-wired not to change our minds:

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Vaccine injuries are the demonic possession of our own time.[/pullquote]

The clearest example may be [the] work around the popularly held belief that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is linked to autism, a claim made by a single, long-discredited study. Nyhan, Riefler, and their research partners surveyed over 2,000 parents; most received one of the following: (1) materials from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) correcting the falsehood; (2) a pamphlet describing the dangers of measles, mumps, and rubella; (3) pictures of children who have these illnesses; or (4) a mother’s firsthand story about how her baby almost died from measles. A control group received no materials.

The results: None of these approaches made parents who were opposed to vaccines more likely to vaccinate their kids… (my emphasis)

Why are anti-vax parents evidence resistant?

Nyhan and Riefler speculate that “we’re even more inclined to hold on to a false belief if it threatens our sense of self.”

There’s no doubt that ego is a large part of anti-vax belief. As I’ve written before, anti-vaccine parents view themselves as smarter than others. They see their combination of self-education and defiance of authority as an empowering form of rugged individualism, marking out their own superiority from those pathetic “sheeple” who aren’t self-educated and who follow authority. Psychologically, they cannot tolerate the reality that they are both ignorant and gullible.

But fear of vaccines is hardly new. It’s been around for 200 years, nearly as long as vaccines themselves. Anti-vax advocates has amassed a perfect record; they’ve never been right even once!

Why, in the face of the scientific evidence of vaccines’ safety and efficacy and the historical evidence that anti-vaxxers have never been right about anything, do anti-vaxxers cling so desperately to their beliefs?

Perhaps it is a form of mass hysteria.

According to Wikipedia:

… [M]ass hysteria … is a phenomenon that transmits collective delusions of threats, whether real or imaginary, through a population in society as a result of rumors and fear…

A common type of mass hysteria occurs when a group of people believe they are suffering from a similar disease or ailment, sometimes referred to as mass psychogenic illness or epidemic hysteria.

Fear of vaccines is a collective delusion transmitted through a population as a result of rumor and fear. Yet there’s no doubt that those in the grip of anti-vax hysteria fervently believe that children, including their children, have been harmed by vaccines.

But there was no doubt in the minds of the citizens of 1690’s Salem, Massachusetts that members of their communities were being harmed by demonic possession. Just like contemporary anti-vaccine parents who fervently believe in vaccine injuries, not merely in theory, but in practice in their own children, Salem resident fervently believed in demonic possession, not merely in theory, but in practice in their own neighbors.

Adolescent girls … began to have fits that were described by a minister as “beyond the power of Epileptic Fits or natural disease to effect.” The events resulted in the Salem witch trials, a series of hearings and executions of 25 citizens of Salem and nearby towns accused of witchcraft. The episode is one of America’s most notorious cases of mass hysteria, and has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a vivid cautionary tale about the dangers of isolationism, religious extremism, false accusations and lapses in due process.

There’s no such thing as demonic possession and there never was, so why were Salem residents so sure they were witnessing it?

1. Someone had a “fit.” That really happened.
2. It was interpreted in light of religious beliefs and irrational fears.
3. Other people also had “fits.” They and those around them were not making it up; they fervently believed it had happened.
4. The population was gripped by the collective delusion of a threat and transmitted that fear through rumor, aided and abetted by those who stood to benefit from convincing others demonic possession was real.

Sound familiar? It should. It bears a striking resemblance to anti-vaccine advocacy.

1. Someone had a bad reaction after vaccination. That really happened.
2. It was interpreted in light of scientific ignorance and irrational fears about vaccines.
3. Other people also had “bad reactions.” They and those around them were not making it up; they fervently believed it had happened.
4. The population was gripped by the collective delusion of a threat and transmitted that fear through rumor, aided and abetted by those who stand to benefit from convincing others that vaccines injuries are real.

The key point, which cannot be overemphasized, is that many anti-vaxxers honestly believe that they have witnessed the evidence with their own eyes and they aren’t lying. But then the Salem residents who feared demonic possession also believed they had witnessed the evidence with their own eyes and they weren’t lying, either.

That’s why anti-vaxxers are evidence resistant. It’s not merely that they can’t understand the evidence because they lack scientific knowledge; it’s not merely that view themselves as “educated,” “empowered” and transgressive. It’s that they are in the grip of mass hysteria.

Vaccine injuries are the demonic possession of our own time. They are a collective delusion, fueled by fear and rumor, fanned by those who stand to benefit from the delusion.