Medical Science Illiteracy

"If you are somebody who has not always understood why a flu shot works one year and not the next, or why some vaccines appear to be more effective than others, there can be some confusion about the clarity of the science."
"We're also in an era now that has a higher propensity, and a  higher level of skepticism toward the so-called experts. It may be that what we're seeing is the reflection of people saying, 'Well, no, I don't think the science is quite clear, and just because it's science doesn't mean that it is by definition clear'. We see this in the climate science debate and other debates as well."
"It's not as though there is a strong civil liberty or a libertarian view that is coming through wholly on one side of the political spectrum or divide."
Shachi Kurl, executive director, Angus Reid Institute

"These aren't hard-core anti-vaxxers -- these are people who are being exposed to the [prevailing] misinformation and want to do the best for their kids, but feel conflicted, and feel that the data isn't certain."
"The science around vaccines isn't unclear -- the science is tremendously well established."
Timothy Caulfield, professor of health law and policy, University of Alberta

A new poll has rendered results through an Angus Reid Institute online survey, that a full one-third of Canadians question the science behind vaccines. Of those polled, 29 percent feel the science on vaccinations against deadly childhood infections isn't "quite clear", with skepticism rising with age, leaving 36 percent of Canadians over 55 with the impression that the science involved fails to be entirely convincing.

Another one-quarter of those polled, representing 26 percent, believe a "real risk of serious side effects" exists from vaccinations, despite such hugely respected health authorities as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating that side effects from childhood vaccines, by and large, are minor in character, with serious reactions exceedingly rare, occurring in fewer than one in a million doses with diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccine, as an example.

Of those polled, the majority, coming in at 74 percent, agree people who campaign against vaccines are "irresponsible", while seven in ten Canadians, irrespective of whether they have children at home, state their support of instituting mandatory immunization which would effectively remove a parent's right to opt out of a universal immunization program.

Twenty percent of parents with children under age 12 feel permission to immunize should remain the choice of the parents.

The issue also reflects political influences, with Conservatives twice as likely as Liberal or NDP voters agreeing choice should belong to parents. And despite that a third of Canadians state uncertainty of the science of vaccines they fail to go so far as to feel it's wrong or misleading, more likely unconvincing and possibly too confusing.

Strangely enough, hesitancy on the part of those questioned doesn't appear to reflect whether they feel vaccines are effective, with nine in ten in agreement that vaccines are indeed effective in reducing risk of diseases spreading, while 83 percent claim they would not hesitate to vaccinate their own children, and five percent adamantly refusing vaccination for their children.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has issued a statement aimed at reminding Canadians that measles is a serious and highly contagious disease and that getting vaccinated is the best protection.   Eric Risberg/AP / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Experts have reported a global resurgence of measles cases; an increase of 30 percent since 2015, directly attributable to the anti-vaccine rhetoric seen everywhere on social media. The result of this resistance is that one in ten children in Canada have not been vaccinated, so that 750,000 young Canadians are bereft of immunity against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and measles.

What that means is that these children whose parents have denied them the protection of vaccination, become vulnerable to those diseases. Moreover, not only are these unvaccinated children in danger of falling victim to ill health and its complications, but in defeating the 'herd effect' aspirations of health authorities where sufficient numbers are vaccinated to slow down infectious transmission, they effectively place other children in danger.

As matters now stand, in Canada no parent can be forced to have a child vaccinated. Mandatory school entry laws require vaccination in Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick, yet all three permit non-medical exemptions on religious or conscientious grounds, and in Ontario, exemptions are on the rise. The response to which by almost a three-to-one margin, Canadians feel vaccinations should be mandatory, taking the choice away from parents.

Twenty-four per cent say vaccinations should be a parent’s choice rather than mandatory. Still from video, Global News