The Disneyland measles outbreak shows that when it comes to contagious diseases, as the Los Angeles Times aptly noted, it’s a small world after all.
Measles is one of the most infectious and dangerous diseases known to man. Before the introduction of the measles vaccine, about 500,000 Americans got it every year, with thousands hospitalized and nearly 500 deaths. The Centers for Disease Control calls vaccination for this and other deadly diseases one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.
The growing anti-vaccination movement is one of the most frustrating developments of this decade. Some of the parents who mistrust vaccine are uneducated and have no access to pediatric counsel, but there’s no excuse for the irresponsible parents who have access to the latest science yet irrationally fear that vaccines are not safe for their children.
Scientists say a 90 percent immunization rate is the minimum necessary to prevent a disease outbreak. Santa Clara County is fortunate that its vaccination rate is 92.53 percent. Contra Costa County’s is even higher at 93.96 percent. But in Orange County, the home of Disneyland, the county’s overall rate of vaccination has fallen below 90 percent and continues to decline.
“You should vaccinate your children to protect them,” said Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County’s health officer. “But you also vaccinate to protect your neighbor, the other children in your school and in your community. There are some who can’t be vaccinated, chief among them infants who don’t get their first measles shot until 12-15 months. You vaccinate because it’s a community benefit.”
Cody, like health experts everywhere, says parental fears that vaccinations are dangerous are misguided.
The myth that measles vaccinations have been linked to autism largely stemmed from a study published in the British medical journal Lancet in 2008. The study was proved to be flawed, and Lancet issued a retraction in 2010. The magazine Pediatrics in 2014 published a review by experts at UCLA, Boston Children’s Hospital and Rand Corp. of more than 60 scientific medical studies of vaccine safety. They concluded that problems are “extremely rare” and strongly encouraged parents to vaccinate their children.
A total of 73 people in six states have contracted measles because of the Disneyland outbreak, and three businesses in Gilroy have posted warnings after discovering that a man with measles had visited their stores. The virus is spreading rapidly because it can stay in the air for up to two hours after an infected person sneezes, coughs or talks. Of course, if everybody around the victim was vaccinated, the virus would expire.
Vaccination is the cornerstone of protecting communities and preventing the return of diseases that once killed hundreds of Americans every year. We can only hope this winter’s hard lesson doesn’t prove fatal.