Vaccinations

U.S. Measles Outbreak?

According to the CDC, this year is on track to be the worst for measles in more than a decade.  CNN reports that:

There were 159 cases of measles in the United States from January 1 through August 24, according to the CDC. If that trend continues, there will be more cases in 2013 than in any year since 1996, when some 500 cases were reported…The disease was thought to have been eradicated in 2000, but the numbers have recently crept back up, largely because of visitors from countries where measles is common and because of vaccine objectors within the United States. Nearly two-thirds of the reported cases happened in three outbreaks in communities where many people don’t vaccinate their children for religious or philosophical reasons.

A few churches are even counselling their parishioners to forego vaccination since this act is supposed to demonstrate that they are true believers. This ignores the fact that the death rate from measles among children is 3 per 1,000 contracted cases in children.

Bottom line: Get your kid vaccinated!

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