User:Tornado chaser/sandbox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vaccine controversies are public debates concerning the medical, ethical, and legal issues related to vaccines. These controversies have occurred since almost 80 years before the terms vaccine and vaccination were introduced.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/The_cow_pock.jpg/640px-The_cow_pock.jpg)
Such controversies often involve concerns about vaccine safety, despite the strong scientific consensus that the benefits of vaccination greatly outweigh the risks.[1][2] Misplaced fears of serious adverse effects lead to vaccine hesitancy, causing outbreaks and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases.[3][4][5][6][7][8] For example, the belief that vaccines cause autism has been widely disproven by scientific evidence, yet still leads some parents to delay or avoid vaccinating their children.
Controversies may also involve vaccine policy, for example there is some concern that mandatory vaccination violates civil liberties or reduces public trust in vaccination.[5][9][10]