---
title: "WHO: Anti-Vaxxers Now One of the Greatest Threats to World Health"
description: "## Anti-Vaxxers"
date: "2019-01-20"
modified: "2019-01-20"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/who-anti-vaxxers-greatest-threats"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "anti-vaxxers"
  - "the digest"
  - "vaccines"
  - "world health organization"
---

# WHO: Anti-Vaxxers Now One of the Greatest Threats to World Health

![The World Health Organization released its annual roundup of the gravest threats to global health — and one of them is anti-vaxxers.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/who-anti-vaxxers-greatest-threats.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Pexels/Jon Christian\</em\>*

## Anti-Vaxxers

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its [annual roundup](<https://www.who.int/emergencies/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019>) of the gravest threats to global health — and one of them is the growing resistance to vaccination, a threat the group listed alongside Ebola and air pollution.

"Vaccine hesitancy – the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines – threatens to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases," the group wrote. "Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease – it currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved."

## Disease Please

Fighting the ideas propagated by anti-vaxxers, which often hold — against nearly all available evidence — that vaccines are ineffective or harmful, is a complex problem. Many subscribe to conspiratorial worldviews, meaning that messages from traditional authority figures like doctors and public health researchers can be unsuccessful.

For now, the WHO urges nuance.

"The reasons why people choose not to vaccinate are complex; a vaccines advisory group to WHO identified complacency, inconvenience in accessing vaccines, and lack of confidence are key reasons underlying hesitancy," the group wrote, diplomatically. "Health workers, especially those in communities, remain the most trusted advisor and influencer of vaccination decisions, and they must be supported to provide trusted, credible information on vaccines."

**READ MORE:** [Ten threats to global health in 2019](<https://www.who.int/emergencies/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019>) \[World Health Organization\]

***More on anti-vaxxers: [Australia Will Now Prosecute Nurses Spreading Anti-Vaccination Messages](<https://futurism.com/56667-2>)***

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)