Measles not a disease to mess with, top doctor warns
Following the recent outbreak of measles in the U.S., a leading government health official is calling for mandatory vaccinations of children.
According to The Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, requiring the shots is the best course of action.
“Outside of religious reasons or medical reasons, if you really want to see a good outcome and fewer cases of this potentially fatal disease, that's probably where we need to go,” he told Gerry Baker on “WSJ at Large” on Friday.
Collins’ comments come as the Centers for Disease Control reports measles cases have appeared in more than 100 people in 10 states this year. And Collins says it’s pretty certain why the disease-- which was declared “eliminated” from the U.S. back in 2000-- is now making a comeback.
“It is clear that these outbreaks happen routinely now in areas where there were a lower proportion of children that have received the recommended vaccinations,” he said.
A majority of the cases have been detected in New York, Texas and Washington State, where 53 percent of all reported measles cases have been discovered.
“In Washington State where a current outbreak has attracted a lot of attention and well, it should have,” he said. “About 5 percent of children there are not vaccinated because of a personal or philosophical preference of their parents that has made it possible for them still to be admitted to school, but without an appropriate measles vaccination.”
“When you reach a certain proportion of individuals in that state, the inevitability of an outbreak occurs and this is a serious circumstance,” he added.
Lawmakers in Washington State are now pushing legislation that would ban personal or philosophical exemptions for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations in school-aged children.
So-called “anti-vaxxers” claim vaccines cause more serious illnesses such as autism, and that health officials are covering up the threat. But Collins said study after study has found that vaccines are not dangerous, and also rejects suggestions by some that getting measles isn’t such a bad thing.
“Measles is not a disease to mess with,” he pointed out. “About one out of every thousand kids that get measles is going to die from this, and this is an entirely preventable condition. Though it is tragic to see the way in which this is happening.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP
This week, social media site Pinterest said it would no longer return search results for terms relating to vaccinations, saying it is concerned about the spread of misinformation.