Some children are at risk of dying from measles as a result of the vaccine hesitancy caused in part by ongoing misinformation, a behavioral expert has warned. There are concerns that the uptake of the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine remains too low in some areas of the country. Dr Simon Williams, a psychology lecturer at Swansea University, said: “There’s still the shadow of Andrew Wakefield and the MMR scandal that even nearly three decades later is still affecting how many kids are getting vaccinated.
This is ultimately costing some children their lives. It’s depressing to even think of.” Dr Williams added that the misinformation surrounding the MMR jab now has a ‘new lease of life’ because of the misleading messages around vaccinations spread online during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There doesn’t so much seem to be a high number of true ‘anti-vax conspiracy theorists’, but the knock-on effect that these views can have has the potential to seed doubt in us. We’re seeing this in the UK and globally, a real decline in the confidence of vaccines. “We need to keep getting the right messages out there, whether through government, public health organisations, local health authorities or charities.
It is a harmful disease – children do die, some become disabled. Communicating that risk is important.” This comes amid pleas from health officials encouraging parents to ensure their children are fully vaccinated against “easily preventable” diseas.