A recent measles outbreak in the United States reignited the debate over whether or not parents should be required to have their children vaccinated. The outbreak, which began in late December of 2014, originated at the Southern California Disneyland theme park and has now reached 17 states. A total of 125 cases of the disease with rash have been reported by the CDC as of February 11th, 110 of which are California residents. Although the United States was able to declare measles eliminated from the country in 2000, meaning the disease is not “constantly present,” this significant outbreak and the Anti-Vaccination movement’s role in its spread endangers said elimination status.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases stated, “This is not a problem with the measles vaccine not working. This is a problem of the measles vaccine not being used.” The rise of the Anti-Vaccination movement began in 1998 when discredited British doctor Andrew Wakefield publishes a now-retracted paper claiming that vaccinations, including the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine could cause autism in children. Since then, a growing number of parents have essentially decided to shun modern medicine and opt out of vaccinating their children because of these religious or philosophical beliefs. The current face of the dubbed “anti-vaxxer” movement is Dr. Jack Wolfson, a cardiologist from Arizona who refuses to give his own children vaccinations. Dr. Wolfson joins the ranks of former Playboy model and vocal anti-vaxxer Jenny McCarthy, who believes MMR lead to her son developing Autism.
Though over 90% of children among the ages 19—35 months received vaccinations in 2013, the CDC explains that people possessing similar views on vaccinations tend to live in the same community, thus, varying the levels of immunization by state or area. The so-called pockets of unvaccinated communities make the spread of disease easier as well as more difficult for health officials to contain. Those most at risk are, of course, the unvaccinated, including babies too young to receive the vaccine.
Moreover, anti-vaxxers who base their supposedly “informed” decisions off of studies that amount to nothing more than conspiracy theories are not simply placing their own children in danger. Reports of alleged “measles parties” occurring California so that unvaccinated children can, “get immune the old-fashioned way, the way God intended,” epidemiologist Art Reingold of the University of California at Berkley told KQED. The careless and ignorant actions of a growing minority have the propensity to pull measles off of the eliminated list.
Emily Abrishamkar is a Staff Writer for Pulse Magazine.