Page 82 - Spring 2019 Journal

Vaccination Updates
MEASLES: A CLOSE EXAMINATION OF THE FACTS TO COUNTER THE FEAR By Kendall Nelson, Director, The Greater Good
In developed countries, measles fatalities are exceptionally low.
The recent measles outbreaks have cre- ated a virtual media and legislative firestorm. Headlines purport that measles is “deadly” and vaccines are “vital.” It is nearly impossible these days to pick up a newspaper without reading sensationalized headlines like this one from The New York Times on March 10, 2019: “The Anti-Vaxxers’ War on Truth.” Never will you read an article in the mainstream media titled “U.S. Government Pays Over 4 Billion Dollars to Victims of Vaccine Injury.” Unjustly, anyone who questions the safety of vaccines or has le- gitimate philosophical or religious objections is being blasted as uninformed, anti-science and dangerous to public health.
Those of us working within the vaccine- awareness community, as well as parents with unvaccinated children are blamed for the “re- surgence” of measles. As a result, lawmakers have introduced numerous bills this legislative session to eliminate exemptions in states that allow parents to decline one or more vaccines for their children. But what if vaccine-awareness
advocates and parents know something the vac- cine proponents refuse to tell us? Perhaps it is time to take a deep breath, step back from the hysteria and thoroughly examine the facts.
MEASLES FACTS
Global statistics show the worldwide inci-
dence of measles to be an average of nineteen cases per one million persons annually. In 2017, there were approximately one hundred ten thousand deaths from measles with the overwhelming majority (more than 95 percent) of deaths occurring in countries with low per capita incomes and weak health infrastructures.1 Insufficient nutrition (particularly vitamin A deficiency) is the leading risk factor.
In developed countries, measles fatalities are exceptionally low. Between 1900 and 1962, as living conditions improved in the United States, the mortality rate declined by over 98 percent. This decline happened prior to the development of the first measles vaccine in 1963. England experienced a similar decrease
Figure 1. Measles mortality rate in the U.S.
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Wise Traditions
SPRING 2019