Given the risks of measles, and given the remarkable effectiveness and safety of the vaccine, why don't people vaccinate their children?
Image source: US Centers for Disease Control
No one has died as of yet, but if we don't quash these outbreaks, it's only a matter of time before someone will die., or 2 deaths per thousand cases. That may sound small, but it's truly frightening when you consider that the U.S. had an estimated 500,000 cases per year before the vaccine was introduced in 1963.
Given the risks of measles, and given the remarkable effectiveness and safety of the vaccine, why don't people vaccinate their children? The primary reason is simple: it's the highly vocal, supremely confident, and utterly misinformed anti-vaccine movement. Anti-vaxxers spread their message daily on Facebook, Twitter, websites, and other media outlets. They have launched systematic efforts throughout the U.S.
In one of the two outbreaks in New York, anti-vaxxers distributed highly misleading pamphlets in an effort to convince parents in an ultra-religious Jewish community not to vaccinate their kids. The anonymously-published pamphlet was"," but it seems to have worked, as least among some of the parents.
The anti-vax movement is also behind the state-by-state effort to allow parents to opt out of vaccinations for their children in public schools. We're finally seeing some states roll this back, but it is still far too easy for parents to claim an"ethical" or"religious" exemption, allowing them to put their unvaccinated kids in school and thereby expose countless other children to measles and other preventable diseases.
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