Tag: Measles

Vaccine.

Past Anti-Vax Campaign Provides Insights for Current COVID-19 Debates

Dorit Reiss Leave a comment

By Dorit Rubinstein Reiss

A new book on a prominent misinformation campaign targeting the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine has profound insights into current vaccine debates, such as those emerging around a potential COVID-19 immunization.

“The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Science, Deception, and the War on Vaccines,” by Brian Deer, exposes the elaborate fraud perpetrated by Andrew Wakefield, the former British gastroenterologist who, in the late 1990s, created a scare about MMR vaccine by suggesting it caused autism.

Brian Deer is the journalist who, through several years of dogged investigation, exposed Wakefield’s hidden conflicts of interests and misrepresentations, showing that the small study used to create the scare was not just deeply flawed – as was apparent on its face – but an elaborate fraud.

Unfortunately, Wakefield and his misrepresentations are still with us, and are still putting children at risk all around the world. This makes Deer’s book – which teaches us how Wakefield tricked the world, and the lasting impact of his fraud – timely and important.

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Photograph of a young girl receiving a vaccination from a doctor

New York’s Strict Vaccine Mandate Goes to Court

Dorit Reiss 1 Comment

By Dorit Reiss

On June 13, 2019 New York repealed the religious exemption from its school immunization mandates. While the actual repeal went fast – the bill passed the Assembly health committee, the Assembly floor, the Senate floor and the Governor’s office on the same day – the bill has been in the process since January, and activists on both sides were active in the lead up to the vote. The bill was a response to a large measles outbreak in New York that sickened hundreds of people and hospitalized over a hundred, sending tens to the ICU.

Not surprisingly, opponents filed lawsuits against the new law. Two of these lawsuits were led by the Children’s Health Defense organization, an anti-vaccine group led by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., though with two different lead lawyers. Eight additional ones were recently filed by two unassociated lawyers in eight different counties.

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A baby getting vaccinated by a doctor wearing gloves.

The Rockland Ban: The Next Step in the Battle Against Measles

Dorit Reiss Leave a comment

Rockland County, New York’s Executive, Ed Day, issued an emergency declaration last month, banning unvaccinated children from public places. Although this seems like a drastic step, it is the culmination of extensive efforts to stem a large outbreak created by anti-vaccine misinformation. It is also in line with principles of public health.

For months, Rockland county in New York has been battling a large measles outbreak. As of April 2, 2019, the outbreak reached 158 cases. The vast majority of cases – 86 percent – were in minors under the age of 18, and over 50 percent are under six years old. Only 3.8 percent of the victims are fully vaccinated (3.8 percent received two doses of the Measles, Mumps, Rubella vaccine, MMR). And 82.8 percent of cases are known to be unvaccinated. Many of the cases are concentrated in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods.

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The Great Vaccination Debate Rages On: Is There Any Solution?

Michele Goodwin Leave a comment

By Allison M. Whelan (Guest Blogger)

For many years now, there has been ongoing debate about childhood vaccinations and the recent measles outbreak in Disneyland and its subsequent spread to other states has brought vaccinations and questions about communicable diseases back to the headlines.  Politicians, including potential presidential candidates such as Hilary Clinton, Rand Paul, and Chris Christie, are also wading back into the debate.

Most recently, five babies who attend a suburban Chicago daycare center were diagnosed with the measles. As a result, anyone in contact with these infants who has not received the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine must remain home, essentially quarantined, for the next twenty-one days—the incubation period for measles. All five of these infants were under the age of one and therefore did not yet have the chance to receive the vaccination, which is not administered until one year of age.

The Chicago outbreak is a prime example of why public health officials emphasize the reliance on herd immunity to protect those who are not yet, or cannot be, vaccinated for legitimate reasons. Unfortunately, the United States has reached a period where it can no longer place much reliance on herd immunity, particularly as more parents decide not to vaccinate their children against very contagious, yet highly preventable diseases. Illness and death are two of life’s certainties, but why should they be given that they are preventable in this situation?  What are the strongest, most rational arguments in this debate? What policy solutions should states consider?  Several options have been proposed over the years, some more feasible and likely than others. Read More

Lax Enforcement of Vaccine Laws Put Young Adults at Risk

Jennifer S. Bard 3 Comments

The news about the return of dangerous “childhood” illnesses gets worse and worse. Columbus, Ohio reports an outbreak of 225 cases—with over 50% students at Ohio State University.   It is probably no coincidence that Ohio State recommends but does not require students (outside of those in healthcare settings) be vaccinated in order to attend class.   It’s not just Mumps.  We are seeing cases of preventable diseases like measles and mumps and whooping cough because of parental decisions not to immunize their children but there is increasing evidence that the immunizations most adults received as infants or young children wear off—leaving the population at large vulnerable to infection once an outbreak occurs. Science Daily just reported a confirmed case of a fully vaccinated young woman contracting measles.  The CDC has not yet recommended that adults get booster shots for Mumps and Measles—although they have in some circumstances for Whooping Cough and Polio.  But the more likely it is for a person to be exposed to these diseases, the more important it is to be fully vaccinated.

So why is the law to blame here?  Read More