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Why There Is a Resistance to New Scientific Theories

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Why There Is a Resistance to New Scientific Theories
Some ideas and theories in science meet with resistance. One of the examples when an idea is meeting with the resistance is immunization. More often children immunization meets with public resistance. As the vaccination of children is parents' decision many decides not to do it. Data published by NHS show that there is high number of measles reported due to 1-16 years old children who missed the vaccinations between 1990s and 2000s. In 2012 the numbers of cases was 2,000. The fears are now concerned on the MMR vaccination, as now there is also a big group of children who did not received their vaccination. NHS urge parents to ensure their children receive the vaccination.

This shows that many parents are sceptical to the vaccinations, what might have negative consequences for children. The reason why in 1990s and 2000s many children did not receive their vaccination was the publication of The Lancet study by Andrew Wakefield talking about a link between autism and MMR vaccination. The strong phrase that some people still remember is that vaccinations are dangerous. Despite the fact that science has proven this is wrong some people still believe there is link between autism development and MMR vaccination. Therefore it is strange that they are making informed choice. The concerns raise as the more children will not receive the vaccines the bigger chances of breakdown in ''herd immunity'' as the hypothesis says.

In some cases people are resistant to new ideas because it depends what they are representing. In this case many parents believe that vaccination put their children at bigger risk than not having them. There are some statistics that WHO has published showing that children under 2 years old not necessary ''develop immunity following vaccination''. This means then that the vaccination might do not work. Also the flu vaccine is not seen as effective. In 2007 CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) reported ''no or low effectiveness'' as according

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