Vaccine Exemptions Drive Measles Rates to 12-Year High

Measles is a highly contagious viral respiratory infection that causes a rash, fever, cough, runny nose, and eye irritation, but about one in five infections leads to complications, some of which, in the worst case, can be fatal. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the complications can include “diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia, encephalitis, seizures, and death.” One in 20 children may develop ear infections; 1 in 1000 may contract encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain that can cause permanent damage.

But since 1971, U.S. citizens have had access to a highly effective vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, and rubella. It confers lifetime immunity to 95 percent of the children to whom it is administered. Most readers born after 1971 are probably too young to even remember getting the first preventative shot. And the evidence that high vaccination rates keep children and adults healthy is overwhelming: kids exempted are 33 times more likely to acquire measles than those who get inoculated.

But yesterday, the CDC announced that more cases of measles have been reported in the Unites States thus far this year than in any year since 1996. When rates hit a seven-year high earlier this year, the news grabbed headlines. From the full report:

No one has died this year from the reported infections, but there have been cases in 131 patients, 112 of whom were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. Sixteen of those patients were infants too young to get the shot, but 63 of the 95 patients old enough were children whose parents, for philosophical or faith-based reasons, decided not to get them vaccinated.

Vaccine safety has sparked a series of heated debates this year, driven in part by advocates who cite discredited scientific research linking the MMR vaccine to autism. For an expert take on the issue, Science Progress spoke with Johns Hopkins professor Dr. Saad Omer, who talked about the importance of taking parental concerns seriously, but also ensuring that they make healthy decisions for their kids:

[E]ven those that are concerned about vaccine safety are coming from the right place. All of us want our children to be safe from any harm, including harm from any pharmaceutical interventions. So we shouldn’t be dismissive of that, but it’s our responsibility, for those of us in the public health community, to put out the right information so that people make a truly informed decision about the risks and benefits of vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases.

Not only does the public health research demonstrate the immense benefits of vaccination—to individual children as well as to the communities in which they live—some of the risks associated with rubella complications (one of the other diseases the MMR vaccine prevents) are very similar to the autism vaccine-opposing parents fear. Dr. Omer explained in that same interview:

[W]e do know that congenital rubella syndrome is associated—and there are some studies showing an association—with autism-like symptoms. …MMR vaccine prevents against something that is associated with autism. So if you are thinking specifically in terms of autism, one should consider that we are talking about something that prevents autism. Congenital rubella syndrome is when mothers get rubella in pregnancies, and children develop certain abnormalities.

You can read the rest of Dr. Omer’s analysis here. It’s worth remembering that the CDC’s “Parent’s Guide to Childhood Immunizations” states in no uncertain terms: “Immunization has been called the most important public health intervention in history, after safe drinking water. It has saved millions of lives over the years and prevented hundreds of millions of cases of disease.” Armed with the best information, public health experts, doctors, and parents can help drive measles rates where they belong: down to zero.

Tags: medicine

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