How do we know what vaccine information is fact or fiction?
Today there are many ways to learn about children’s vaccines. You can learn about them through online searches, social media, your doctor, and your family and friends. With so much information coming from so many different sources, it’s hard to know what’s true and what’s not. You need the unbiased truth when it comes to making decisions about your child’s health—which is why we want to give you the tools you need to separate vaccine FACT from vaccine FICTION.
Misinformation is false information that is presented as fact. Whether it’s intentional or not, it misleads people to believe something that isn’t true. Vaccine misinformation can appear in many different forms. Here are a few examples:
Fake experts
Fake experts are people who pretend to be experts without any real experience in a topic. For example, in 1998 Dr. Andrew Wakefield published a flawed study that linked the MMR vaccine and autism. The study’s findings were found to be fraud, and Dr. Wakefield’s license to practice medicine was later taken away.source: 1,source: 2
Cherry picking
Cherry picking is only considering evidence that supports your hypothesis. For example, some patients in Wakefield’s study had cognitive problems before getting vaccinated. The study published skewed data that only pointed to the vaccine causing autism without providing full context.source: 3,source: 4
Logical fallacies
Logical fallacies are misleading arguments with flawed reasoning. They might suggest an extreme relationship without proof. For example, if a child gets the MMR vaccine, then gets diagnosed with autism later, it doesn’t mean the MMR vaccine caused autism. For decades, studies have shown no link between the two.source: 5,source: 6
Credibility checklist
Sometimes, it can be difficult to know whether a source or a piece of information is trustworthy. Read our credibility checklist to learn ten ways to help you separate vaccine fact from vaccine fiction.
Doing your own research
Most of us have done our own research at one time or another, especially when it comes to vaccines. What we’re really doing is called independent learning. Find out more about the value of independent learning and how to get the most out of your efforts.
Correlation vs. causation
Just because something happens around the same time as something else doesn’t mean the two are related. The same is true for vaccines.
Understanding risk
The benefits of getting vaccinated outweigh the risks of getting a vaccine-preventable disease.
Five reasons to vaccinate your child
Keeping your child up to date on their vaccines is the most important thing you can do to protect their health.
Share the facts
Spreading the truth saves lives, so use our resources to help parents understand how vaccines work, why they’re safe, and how they help protect kids.
Sources
- Annual Review of Virology: The MMR Vaccine and Autism
- Immunize.org: MMR Vaccine Does Not Cause Autism
- British Medical Journal: How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Vaccines and Autism
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Logical Fallacies and Vaccines
- CDC: Autism and Vaccines