A new study conducted by a WSU Ph.D candidate indicates a widening gap between political parties on the issue of vaccination, with Republicans more likely to be anti-vax.

TJ Weber conducted the study for The Daily Beast and found that 25 percent of Republicans and 15 percent of Democrats surveyed expressed anti-vaccine sentiment.

The Daily Beast study was conducted through an internet survey of 400 people living in the U.S. using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk on June 29.

Amazon’s Mechanical Turk is a crowdsourcing internet marketplace where individuals and businesses coordinate certain tasks that computers are unable to do – like questionnaires, photo processing or human translation services.

A 2009 Pew Research survey found that 26 percent of Republicans and 27 percent of Democrats say that parents should decide whether or not to vaccinate their children.

The same Pew survey conducted in 2014 lists a much wider divide, with 34 percent of Republicans and 22 percent of Democrats saying that parents should choose.

This study seems to fall in line with prevailing public opinion that politics in America are becoming increasingly polarized, but Weber said that wealth is likely a better indicator of anti-vax sentiment than political affiliation.

“Liberals aren’t immune from this at all,” Weber said. “If you look at where these outbreaks are happening, it’s in places like suburban Seattle and San Francisco, places where people have a lot of money and time to think about their choices.”

Weber compares the phenomenon to an economic theory called the tragedy of the commons – the idea that a shared resource is worsened because enough individuals decide to misuse the resource for their own gain.

“Your incentive is to always shirk and expect the other people to vaccinate, but you don’t need that many people to shirk before it becomes a serious problem,” Weber said.

He said this is due to herd immunity – the idea that approximately 90 percent of a population has to be vaccinated to prevent the spread of disease.

“As people vaccinate over time, all these diseases disappear – measles, scarlet fever, typhoid, whooping cough, diphtheria, polio,” Weber said. “And because of herd immunity, our generation and the generation before us have been completely sheltered from the reality of these diseases.”

When more than 10 percent of people are unvaccinated, however, the balance begins to be thrown off.

“Overall, most people are still very intent on vaccinating, but enough people aren’t that it’s starting to get frightening,” Weber said.

As a result, it’s critical for everyone who can be vaccinated to do so in order to protect those who can’t be vaccinated – such as infants and people who are allergic to certain vaccines.

“The problem with pro-vaccination and anti-vaccination is that they’re seen as two sides of an issue, but it’s actually not debatable,” Weber said.

In response, he said political leaders should address that there is no evidence of vaccines having a connection to autism or mercury poisoning.

“We need people trusted on both sides of the spectrum to go out and say, ‘listen, this is not a political issue – it doesn’t make sense to have political sides to vaccination,’” Weber said. “If you look at a graph of vaccine and autism rates over time, it looks like an X – which means there is no meaningful relationship between the two.”

By choosing not to vaccinate yourself or your children, you’re putting the most vulnerable members of society at risk – even if your family never gets sick.

Weber said that the best course of action is to listen to your doctor.

Health and Wellness Services offers vaccinations for meningitis, the flu, and other viruses. Most are covered by insurance.

For students and faculty with families, consult your family care practitioner for age-appropriate vaccinations.

“Forty years ago, you went to the doctor, you asked the doctor what to do, and you did it,” Weber said. “Now, there’s so much information out there that people are starting to take on the role as their own doctor. However, it’s important to remember all of the roles your general practitioner has – it’s amazing how much they know.”

Alysen Boston is a senior communication major from Baltimore, Maryland. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of The Office of Student Media.