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- Measles requires 95% vaccination to stop outbreaks—current rates are too low.
- Anti-vaccine beliefs often come from not understanding risk well, not from not knowing science facts.
- A study from 1998 that was proven wrong wrongly linked MMR vaccines to autism. It still affects what people think today.
- Living a healthy life cannot protect you from measles like vaccination does.
- Not vaccinating puts people at risk who cannot get vaccinated, like babies or those with weak immune systems.
Measles Outbreak: Are Anti-Vaccine Beliefs to Blame?
In 2024, Canada had a worrying return of measles. This virus was once gone from the country. With over 350 known cases in Ontario—and 173 in just two weeks—and one child who died, this health problem makes us think hard about why a sickness we can prevent is back in a deadly way. The answer is not just about science. It’s also about understanding the new situation with vaccine hesitation and anti-vaccine beliefs that stop us from keeping measles away.
Measles: A Dangerous and Contagious Disease
Before we talk about why people hesitate, it’s important to know how serious measles is. Measles is a disease that spreads very easily. It’s caused by the measles virus (MeV). It spreads mostly through tiny drops in the air when someone who is sick coughs or sneezes. When someone breathes these in or they get into their eyes or nose, the virus starts making copies of itself fast.
The first signs often look like a cold—fever, cough, runny nose, and red eyes. But after a few days, a rash shows up on the body. And, more dangerously, serious problems can happen like lung infection, brain swelling, and even death. This is especially true for young children under five or people with weak immune systems.
According to the World Health Organization, measles is one of the most contagious diseases people get. If unvaccinated people are in a room with someone who has measles, up to 90% of those close by can catch it. That is why measles needs 95% of people to be vaccinated to get “herd immunity.” This is the level needed to stop outbreaks. But, vaccination levels in some Canadian places are lower than this. This leaves whole groups of people at risk.
The Psychology Behind Vaccine Hesitancy
The facts clearly show vaccines work, but some people are still hesitant. This is more complicated than just not knowing things or being stubborn. Why people hesitate about vaccines involves quick ways of thinking, feelings, and what their culture values.
Maya Goldenberg, a professor who studies how people see science, says that many people who hesitate about vaccines are not just saying no to science for no reason. They are trying to think about things using science-like ideas. They look for studies, question if big groups are biased, and use information to support their beliefs. But they get the facts wrong.
This shows one big misunderstanding. People who hesitate about vaccines often don’t think they are against science. They think they are for choice, being careful, or even following the facts. The problem is not that they don’t think. It is thinking that goes wrong. And it gets stronger because of how they feel, looking for things that prove them right, and getting support from others online.
Not trusting big groups—like the government, drug companies, or even doctors—makes people more unsure. This is not new. Some groups of people have been treated unfairly in the past. This adds to today’s hesitation. So, connecting with people’s feelings and culture is just as important as getting the facts right to help people feel better about vaccines.
The Lasting Impact of a Study That Was Proven Wrong
Many anti-vaccine beliefs today started with one paper published in 1998 in The Lancet. The study, led by Andrew Wakefield, said there was a link between the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine and autism in young children. Many later studies showed this paper was wrong. It was taken back completely. But it still affects people.
This is a good example of how people tend to pay more attention to information that is emotional or easy to recall, instead of facts and numbers. This is called the “availability heuristic.” For many parents, the emotional story of a healthy child changing after vaccination seems more real than what most scientists agree on.
The study got a lot of attention in the media back then and caused a lot of problems. Popular TV shows, stories from parents, and false information online helped make people really afraid. Even now, even though Wakefield lost his medical license and everyone agrees his study was wrong, the idea that vaccines cause autism is still heard around the world.
Past Medical Mistakes and Losing Trust
Public health needs people to trust it. When that trust is broken, especially among groups who are treated unfairly or are easily hurt, the harm lasts a long time. The thalidomide problem in the 1960s is a sad example. This drug was sold as a safe way to help with morning sickness, but it caused problems in the development of over 10,000 babies in 46 countries. As noted in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the bad event showed that companies and rules weren’t good enough. This still makes people worry today.
People against vaccines often use these past problems. They say they prove that drug companies care more about making money than helping people. Examples like this make people more doubtful, especially in Indigenous and communities that have been unfairly treated for a long time. In these places, people have not gotten good care, or have been part of experiments, or ignored.
So, to deal with vaccine hesitation, we also need to build back trust in the system. Showing all the facts from studies, making drug companies responsible, and letting community members have more say in public health rules are all needed to help people trust the system again.
The “Natural Immunity” Myth
Another common idea among people who hesitate about vaccines is that having a strong immune system can fight off disease so vaccines aren’t needed. People who support “natural immunity” often mention healthy eating, taking probiotics, and other health practices as better than getting vaccinated.
Eating well and living a healthy life definitely help your immune system work well. But they cannot protect you from viruses like measles. Measles spreads quickly and affects anyone. U.S. presidential candidate and someone who talks a lot about not trusting vaccines, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has said that eating habits, not not getting vaccinated, cause outbreaks. Experts strongly disagree with this idea.
The CDC says clearly that eating well or using natural methods is not enough to protect you like vaccines do. Unlike bacteria, viruses like measles go right into your body’s cells. This happens so fast that diet cannot help in time.
Also, for herd immunity to work, lots of people need to be vaccinated. Some people—like babies under 12 months or people getting treatment for cancer—cannot be vaccinated. They need other people to be immune to stay safe. Choosing “natural immunity” for a healthy child could accidentally put others at risk who cannot get vaccinated.
Forgetting What We’ve Overcome
Vaccination has worked so well that people forget how bad diseases used to be.
A report from 1947 shows that measles in Ontario once killed 1 out of every 100,000 people. As documented in a 1947 Public Health Report. But because measles is less common now, younger people don’t connect measles with blindness, brain swelling, or death. They hear “rash and fever” and don’t think it’s serious.
Forgetting makes people less careful. When people haven’t seen how bad it is, or aren’t strongly reminded, vaccines seem like something you can choose, not something you must have. As a result, diseases that were almost gone can come back when people aren’t vaccinated, or through travel.
Helping people really understand how bad epidemics were in the past—and how people suffered—could make them want to get vaccinated. Education efforts that tell the human stories of past outbreaks have worked better than just showing numbers.
Misunderstanding “Breakthrough” Infections
Another thing that helps spread false ideas about vaccines is that people don’t understand “breakthrough infections.” When a vaccinated person gets measles, some people think it shows that the vaccine doesn’t work at all.
This shows a big misunderstanding of how vaccines work. Experts who study the immune system explain that vaccines have two goals: to lower the chance of getting infected, and—if you do get infected after being vaccinated—to make the sickness much less severe and make it less likely for you to spread the virus.
The CDC says that people who get vaccinated and still catch measles usually have symptoms that are much less serious. They also spread the virus less easily than people who aren’t vaccinated. This makes it easier to keep sick people away from others, means hospitals and doctors have less work, and lowers how much the virus spreads in the community.
When people think a vaccine has to work perfectly or not at all, they miss how much good even some protection does for public health. This is a dangerous mistake when trying to stop outbreaks.
Fear of Ingredients and the Chemical Name Fallacy
Another common worry in anti-vaccine groups is worry about what’s in vaccines. Things people often mention that scare them include thimerosal, aluminum, formaldehyde, and polyethylene glycol.
Even though thimerosal was taken out of childhood vaccines in Canada in 2001, people still worry about it. Wrong ideas stay around partly because of something psychologists call the “chemical name fallacy.” This means people don’t trust words that sound scientific and unfamiliar, even if the amount is tiny or safer than things they use every day (like fluoride in toothpaste).
When public health talks to people, saying “it’s safe” is not enough. We need to say why. Showing how much of an ingredient is in a vaccine compared to what’s in common food or the environment can help people understand. Talking to experts on what’s safe or using simple pictures for people who aren’t scientists can help explain what is in these shots that save lives.
More Focus on the Person and Less on the Group
In recent years, people in Western countries have started thinking more about being independent and making their own choices, especially when raising children. As the book Calling the Shots by sociologist Jennifer Reich shows, this focus on the person supports the idea that parents—not the state—should be the ones who decide everything about their children’s health.
Being able to choose is important. But public health depends on people relying on each other. One person’s choice not to vaccinate can put another person’s life in danger.
Talking about vaccination as something we do for our community, like following traffic rules or paying taxes, might help. Thinking of public health as a way for the community to care for itself, instead of the system watching over people, can make people less resistant. It can also bring back the idea that we are all responsible for each other.
Why Facts Alone Can’t Change Minds
People have access to more information than ever, but false information keeps spreading. Why? Facts don’t always change minds—who people feel they are does. Experts who study behavior call this “motivated reasoning.” It means people look for information that fits what they already think without even knowing they’re doing it.
Just telling people the right facts doesn’t usually fix misinformation. People who hesitate about vaccines often gather online. There, everyone agrees with each other, and ignoring facts that don’t fit their beliefs helps them feel accepted by the group.
So, changing minds is not just about facts. It’s about feeling like you belong to a group. Things that work well to change minds must understand that beliefs about vaccines are part of who people are—like being a parent, what’s normal in their community, or their political ideas. To change someone’s mind, you often need to change the place or group they are part of first.
Meeting Vaccine Hesitancy with Empathy
To deal with this problem, we need more than experts and facts. We need people who listen. Maya Goldenberg and others say that success comes from changing the way we correct false ideas into conversations.
Things done by people in the community—using local health workers people trust, teachers who speak their language, and doctors who take time to listen—create partnerships, not enemies. Real stories can connect with feelings better than charts or pictures. Public health needs stories people can relate to just as much as scientific reports.
Talking to people about vaccines should aim not just to give information but to build trust. We need to understand why a parent hesitates, not just tell them they’re wrong.
The Sad Cost of Delay
In 2025, a very sad story published in The Atlantic told about a toddler who died after getting measles in Texas. The child’s parents first waited to get them vaccinated because of false information online, but later felt terribly sorry.
These stories show clearly what can happen. They show the human side of what happens when people don’t get vaccinated in ways that numbers never can. Sharing real stories of people who lost someone, who got better, or who bounced back is a strong way to fight false information.
Vaccination as Community Responsibility
In the end, getting vaccinated is more than just a medical thing. It’s about doing the right thing. In a population with many different kinds of people and older people, where not everyone can be vaccinated, everyone needs to work together to stay safe. When Canada has faced hard times as a country—like with money, the environment, or politics—people have worked together.
Health should be no different. Protecting each other from sickness we can prevent is not just about doing what you want. It’s about making sure everyone has a good future. It’s something we owe each other—for people of all ages, in all places, and with all kinds of ideas.
If this article connected with you, share it with someone who is thinking about vaccine doubts. Change starts with conversation.
