It is no surprise that the rates of influenza infections and respiratory illnesses are climbing in Clark County at this time of year. Winter weather drives people inside, where close contact increases infection rates. And cold weather weakens immune systems and makes many people more susceptible to viruses.

But while a rise in illnesses is to be expected, it also offers an opportunity to reiterate the importance, effectiveness and safety of vaccines. Such information is particularly important with an inexplicable increase in vaccine hesitancy throughout the United States in recent years.

To a large extent, doubts about vaccine safety can be traced to a single fraudulent report.

In 1998, British doctor Andrew Wakefield wrote a research paper for the medical journal The Lancet in which he suggested a link between childhood vaccines and autism. What Wakefield didn’t mention is that he had been paid by trial lawyers hoping to cash in by blaming vaccines for their clients’ autism. Nor did Wakefield mention that he had applied for a patent on his own measles vaccine and, therefore, had good reason to demean the current vaccine.

Since then, Wakefield has been discredited. He is banned from practicing medicine, and by 2010, The Lancet had entirely retracted his findings. Yet the damage he caused is not so easily retracted. Triggered by Wakefield’s fraudulent claims, the anti-vaccine movement has grown over the past 25 years, and now we are seeing its impact. Meanwhile, Wakefield moved to the United States, where he found a receptive audience for his anti-vaccine message.

Measles has served as ground zero for the anti-vaxx movement. The virus once was considered eradicated in the United States, but now it is resurgent; more than 2,000 cases were confirmed in 2025 as vaccination rates continued to decline. This disturbing trend arrived despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding at least nine studies over the years that have found no link between vaccines and autism, as have numerous private studies.

There is no evidence to keep Wakefield’s fraud alive other than online posts repeating unfounded rumors; on the other hand, vaccines approved for widespread use undergo significant testing followed by monitoring for unexpected side effects. Evidence, however, is often willfully ignored by the public.

Vaccine reluctance has expanded as an invitation for other afflictions to hamper public health. It played a significant role in the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has contributed to the revival of childhood diseases. It also opened the door for noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be placed in charge of the nation’s health — a clear recipe for disaster.

The impact of these developments will take decades to fully assess and even longer to reverse. But it is evident in small ways every time we hear about a measles outbreak in the United States or about local hospitals reporting an increase in respiratory illnesses. As one local clinician told The Columbian: “It’s been pretty brutal this winter. There were a lot of people who were very sick throughout the holidays. Anecdotally, it has definitely seemed like there was a big uptick.”

The point is not to stoke fear, but to provide a reminder that nearly 20,000 deaths in the United States were attributed to COVID in 2025, and another 2,000 were attributed to influenza. Vaccines are not a panacea to prevent all afflictions, but they are a safe way to reduce individual risk and bolster public health.