Despite the reality of measles, rotavirus, and a plethora of other infectious diseases, there's yet another anti-vaccine movement afoot in California. And its aim is to turn the clock back to the 10th Century.
anti-vaxxers
This article, written by Dr. Alex Berezow, was cited by New York Daily News. Obviously, measles outbreaks are garnering a lot of national attention. People seem to have forgotten that, at one time, measles killed thousands of Americans every single year. To this day, measles kills more than 100,000 people around the world annually. But without a doubt, health officials –- especially those who trek to remote and sometimes dangerous locations to administer vaccines – are true public servants.
More vaccinations mean fewer people are getting preventable diseases. But 2016 was a year filled with the fervor of the anti-vaxxer movement. And alarmingly, that dangerous zeal for stopping this effective public health measure, which helps save the lives of children, looks like it is ramping up as we head into 2017.
In its latest issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC estimates the worldwide impact that vaccination against measles. The results are both encouraging and breathtaking. What would happen if there was no measles vaccine? Roughly 1.5 million people would die of the disease every single year.
The outbreak began with a Michigan parent who was diagnosed with shingles last October. Despite acquiring first-hand knowledge of the pain and discomfort of shingles, the parent apparently took no significant action to protect his or her 5 kids. Within a month, one by one each came down with chickenpox. And then it spread outside the family home.
If you want to find a hotbed of homeopathy, anti-vaccine, anti-GMO and other wacky anti-science rants, look no further. Pinterest is the 13th most popular website in America and the 32nd in the world. It's more popular than CNN. We here at ACSH fully intend to rectify this situation. We hope others join us in doing so.
Credit: Belle News
Robert De Niro forced to pretend to accept science
Despite claims that it was critical to "openly" discuss all of the issues in autism, the actor Robert De Niro wisely pulled the film "Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe" from next month's Tribeca Film Festival, which claimed autism was caused by vaccines, despite every reputable scientist in the world knowing otherwise.
A recent report in JAMA provides concrete epidemiological evidence that vaccine refusal has contributed to the increased risk for measles and pertussis, also known as whooping cough, which are vaccine-preventable diseases.
With no topic beyond reach of his scorn, Donald Trump takes a shot at the NFL, calling the game "too soft" for its attempts to protect players with rule changes. Meanwhile, a big thumbs up to another mogul, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for publicizing the vaccination of his infant daughter; and a sad, early goodbye to legendary rocker David Bowie, a one-time heavy smoker, who died at the age of 69.
A new pro-vaccine ad campaign in Australia targets the secret anti-science demographic known as "Whole Foods shoppers."
In a recent column, internist Dr. Peter Lipson, called for doctors who fail to adhere to the recommended vaccination schedule to lose their licenses. Responding with a bold complaint was Dr. Bob Sears, whose arguments against that proposal were exposed as blatant sophistry and quackery.
California seems to get all the attention when it comes to the anti-vaxx movement, but the epidemic of non-medical exemptions exists in other states too, and in many cases it s worse. In fact according to data from 2012, Cali