In 1998, a medical study was published, focusing on the outlandish claim that the MMR vaccine - now given to little children across the country to protect against measles, mumps and rubella - caused autism. Now, 22 years later, this claim is still hotly disputed. Last year, this claim was debunked by the NHS yet again. There have been countless experiments and studies disproving this theory, but people still believe that vaccines have hidden side effects, or believe in the many conspiracy theories that are making the rounds on social media or the news. Conspiracy theories have always existed - going further back than Abraham Lincoln's assassination, but as time has passed, new (and more outlandish) theories have been proposed, most of them surrounding specific people in positions of power, or just to induce fear and worry.
Coronavirus and Conspiracies
Since COVID-19's discovery, many conspiracy theories have been circulated surrounding its origin. These range from 5G being the origin of coronavirus to it being a bio-weapon created by China or the US. None of these are true, as it has been scientifically proven that coronavirus was not created in a lab, and is not man-made. People have also begun to think that COVID-19 is a scheme to reduce the population of the world, or a scheme for the wealthy to profit. These theories originate due to viral videos, or viral social media posts - the 5G theory began when a woman asked a man if he had parents, and when he said yes, said 'Well when they turn that switch on, bye-bye mama.' This caused mass panic on the dangers of 5G to the people. After this, there were attacks on 5G masts in parts of England.
So why do people believe in these theories if they are so ridiculously obviously false? People like to have scapegoats for the suffering of the world's population due to the virus. These conspiracy theories require some level of truth behind them, and since the chances of a lab-based virus escaping and infecting the public is slim, but not impossible, the chances that people believe a conspiracy theory about the origin is very high. As well as this, it only requires one or two people to share the theory on social media for it to begin its exponential spread across the internet.
Vaccines and Autism
As I mentioned before, in 1998, then-Dr Andrew Wakefield published a study, stating that when a child receives their MMR vaccine, they have an increased chance to develop autism. After its publication, the rates of MMR vaccination fell under 80%, and measles infections rose. This was incredibly dangerous - measles is highly contagious and spreads very fast, so when the rates of immunizations went down, the scientists were worried. In the years that followed, many other studies were published trying to disprove this. One study, in particular, looked at how many children developed autism in the 8 years after receiving the vaccine. Of the sample of 650,000 children who participated in the trial, 1% of them developed autism. In the study, some of the children received the vaccine, and some did not, but the rates of autism within both groups were similar. This study suggests very strongly, that the MMR vaccine does NOT cause autism.
But why did people believe in Wakefield's study? Like with the COVID-19 conspiracies, they were spread on social media and the news. Over the last 2 decades, the 'Anti-vax' trend has become more and more popular, until just yesterday, the Labour party called for the complete banning of anti-vax content. Anti-vax has become a large source of fake news, with theories about the potential dangers about vaccination - with one other common one being that vaccines have microchips in them to track you.
In the end, conspiracy theories begin as harmless rumours, but when they spread far and wide, like 5G and coronavirus, they can cause anarchy. The biggest way that these theories spread is via social media - sharing, reposting, retweeting, all of these methods are potential ways to reach new people. If you ever see a conspiracy theory on social media, report it - this kind of misinformation needs to stop, especially now when getting accurate information is more important than ever.
Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed please leave a like and a comment - it really helps. Also, please share this page with your friends!
PS. My school is having a massive raffle for Christmas - with the winner getting £1000! 5 runner ups will receive £150 each as well! Each ticket only costs £1 to buy, and it helps out the school so much when other fundraising methods can't be used due to COVID. If you are interested, use the link here:
When purchasing tickets, please use the code "12.4 21".
Thanks!