In the 1980's, I bought and read a book called "The Coming Plague" that predicted that at some point in the not too distant future, there would be one or more pandemics.
Right now, we are dangerously close to the re-appearance of pandemics, for rather different reasons postulated in that book, which mainly dealt with the possibility of the appearance of immune viruses or strains of bacteria (but, in case we forget, MRSA is already with us, occasionally attacking humans in a dramatic, dangerous and often debilitating and disfiguring way).
The anti-vaccine movement is now eroding herd immunity, as significant numbers of children are being pulled from vaccination programs by worried and scared parents.
This article attempts to analyze the roots and causes of that anti-vaccine panic. Personally, I do not think that the anti-vaccine movement will die away until there is a significant pandemic that kills enough people to warrant governmental intervention, probably in the form of laws passed to prevent children from being withdrawn from vaccination programs. That would be an unfortunate erosion of personal and parental rights, but it may be shown to be necessary for the health of an integrated modern society.