{"id":30988,"date":"2026-10-19T11:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/?p=30988"},"modified":"2026-10-19T11:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:40:10","slug":"vaccines-have-been-so-successful-that-some-people-have-forgotten-why-we-need-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/science-mct\/vaccines-have-been-so-successful-that-some-people-have-forgotten-why-we-need-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaccines have been so successful that some people have forgotten why we need them"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"top\">\n<aside class=\"grid-two w-full\">\n<div id=\"native-share\" class=\"clear-both flex-row sm:flex-col flex items-start gap-0 sm:gap-2 sm:items-left h-10 mb-2 w-full\">\n<div class=\"hidden sm:flex sm:flex-col gap-2 items-end w-full ml-auto\">\n<div class=\"relative me-2\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"relative me-2\">\n<div class=\"hover tooltip left-full top-1\/2 -translate-y-1\/2 m-0! ms-1! px-2! py-1! bg-black! w-auto! rounded-lg! whitespace-nowrap opacity-0\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n<p class=\"text-white text-xs\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/measles-epidemiology-2023-to-2026\/confirmed-cases-of-measles-in-england-by-month-age-region-and-upper-tier-local-authority-2026\">Three measles-related deaths have been reported in England in 2026<\/a>. One child died from an acute infection, another from the long-term effects of measles, and an adult with an underlying immune condition also died, <em>says <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/vaccines-have-been-so-successful-that-some-people-have-forgotten-why-we-need-them-294265\">Dr Dan Stratton, Lecturer in Biomedical Health Science at The Open University<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-ten large-grid-nine grid-last content-body content entry-content instapaper_body inline-promos\">\n<p>Yet misconceptions about vaccination persist, including the belief that improved hygiene and sanitation have made vaccines unnecessary. <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/topics\/vaccination-33\">Why do such claims continue to attract support when the evidence for vaccination is so strong?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Vaccination\u2019s success partly explains this. In highly vaccinated countries, diseases that once killed or disabled millions have become so uncommon that many people have never witnessed their consequences. As the threat of disease becomes less visible, the perceived risk of vaccination can begin to outweigh the perceived risk of infection.<\/p>\n<p>Vaccine scepticism also reflects concerns about personal freedom and distrust of pharmaceutical companies or governments. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41562-022-01431-6\">Research identifies confidence in vaccines<\/a>, perceived disease risk and access as important influences on vaccination decisions.<\/p>\n<p>Social media can amplify misleading claims. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0277953623007359\">A 2024 review linked seeking information on social media with less favourable attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines<\/a>, although findings varied.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/vaccines-have-been-so-successful-that-some-people-have-forgotten-why-we-need-them-294265\">Read the full article on The Conversation<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Image Credit &#8211; Spencerbdavis1 on Pixabay<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three measles-related deaths have been reported in England in 2026. One child died from an acute infection, another from the long-term effects of measles, and an adult with an underlying immune condition also died, says Dr Dan Stratton, Lecturer in Biomedical Health Science at The Open University. Yet misconceptions about vaccination persist, including the belief [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":30989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,14],"tags":[861,1525,1640,2200],"class_list":["post-30988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-environment","category-science-mct","tag-faculty-of-stem","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home","tag-the-conversation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30990,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30988\/revisions\/30990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}