26/04/2019
There is growing evidence of serious measles outbreaks in several countries around the world, including many 'high income' nations.
A report was released this week by the United Nations Children Investment Fund (UNICEF), which showed that between 2020 and 2017 an average 21.1 million children missed out on the first dose of the measles vaccine each year. This has created a 'pathway' to a global outbreak, with a significant number of cases reported across the world, including the U.S., Europe, the Philippines and Tunisia.
“The measles virus will always find unvaccinated children.”
Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director
Measles is a respiratory illness and is more contagious than Ebola, tuberculosis or influenza.
According to UNICEF, vaccination can mean the difference between life and death.
It takes two doses of the vaccine to protect children against the disease and, according to the World Health Organization, 95% vaccine coverage provides a community 'herd immunity'.
However, anti-vaccine campaigners, steered on by false evidence, has led to a lot of children missing out on their vaccinations. In less prosperous countries, this is further exasperated due to issues such as poor infrastructure and conflict. As a result, global measles vaccine coverage has plummeted, driving up the number of cases. Over 110,000 measles cases were reported worldwide in the first three months of 2019, which is up nearly 300% on the same period in 2018.
In 2017, more than 109,000 people died from measles; needlessly.
So, what went wrong?
In 1998, a British doctor named Andrew Wakefield released a research paper he had written on the relationship between the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine and the conditions Autism and bowel disease. This was believed by so many members of the general public, even after it was proved to be fraudulent in 2010.
After Wakefield published the paper, other researchers tried, but were unable, to reproduce the findings or confirm his hypothesis of an association between:
the MMR vaccine and autism; or
autism and gastrointestinal disease.
A 2004 investigation by a Sunday Times reporter identified undisclosed financial conflicts of interest on Wakefield's part. This led to most of his co-authors withdrawing their support for the study's interpretations. The British General Medical Council (GMC) conducted an inquiry into allegations of misconduct against Wakefield and two former colleagues.
The investigation centred on the findings identified by the Sunday Times reporter, Brian Deer. He found that children with autism were subjected to unnecessary invasive medical procedures, such as colonoscopies and lumbar punctures, and that Wakefield acted without the required approval from an ethical review board.
On 28 January 2010, a tribunal of the GMC came to the decision that 36 charges had been proved. This included four counts of dishonesty and 12 counts involving the abuse of developmentally delayed children.
The GMC ruled that Wakefield had failed in his duties as a responsible consultant, acted against the interests of his patients, and been dishonest and irresponsible in the publication of his research.
And yet, the man is enjoying his life in America, including continuing to spread his lies, whilst people have suffered serious illness or death as a result of his maniacal crusade.
Wakefield's study and his claim that the MMR vaccine might cause autism led to a decline in vaccination rates in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland and a corresponding rise in measles and mumps. His continued claims that the vaccine is harmful have contributed to a climate of distrust about all vaccines and, as a result, the reemergence of other previously controlled diseases.
It is worrying that people still believe the nonsense peddled by anti-vaccine protestors and that they are continuing to put not just their own children, but all children, at risk.
Ignorance isn't bliss. This type of ignorance is pain.
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