In a new publication of the Journal of the American Medical Association's Pediatrics, researchers believe the recent measles outbreak that was linked to Disneyland is the result of the anti-vaccination activists and their movement supporting extreme views such as not vaccinating children.
"The ongoing measles outbreak linked to the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, shines a glaring spotlight on our nation's growing anti-vaccination movement and the prevalence of vaccination-hesitant parents," the scientists wrote in the research paper.
To arrive at their conclusions, the researchers made use of publicly available statistics.
"Rapid growth of cases across the United States indicates that a substantial percentage of the exposed population may be susceptible to infection due to lack of, or incomplete, vaccination," they wrote. "Our study estimates that MMR vaccination rates among the exposed population in which secondary cases have occurred might be as low as 50 percent and likely no higher than 86 percent.
"Given the highly contagious nature of measles, vaccination rates of 96 percent to 99 percent are necessary to preserve herd immunity and prevent future outbreaks."
The scientists involved believe that the low vaccination rates place "the greater population at risk as well" as those who come into contact with infected individuals.
According to Dr. Eric Handler, the Orange County health officer, about 35 cases of the measles were confirmed in the county. Out of these cases, 14 happened to be children with only one of them vaccinated while the remaining 13 were not vaccinated. Of all the cases, 22 patients were infected after they came into contact with others outside of the county while 14 of the cases were confirmed to be linked to Disneyland. One of the children who contracted measles had already had one round of the MMR vaccine but two others were simply too young to receive the vaccination shots.
"Most of the adults and nearly all of the children who contracted measles in Orange County were not vaccinated, including two children who were too young to be vaccinated," Handler said. "This underscores the importance of vaccination in preventing the spread of measles, and protecting children who are too young to be vaccinated."
Regardless of the position you take on vaccinations, it is difficult to dismiss this latest news and the effects of not vaccinating children. Much debate has raged in recent years on the safety of vaccinations with many believing they are linked to the rise in autism rates despite scientific evidence to support the contrary. Even in the wake of this latest news about the outbreak, it will more than likely have no effect on the continued debate about the safety and effectiveness of vaccinations.
