The mid-year figures for 2013 are now out. What figures? The CDC figures on measles (and mumps, and whooping cough, etc.) in the USA. Let me quote from the Measles & Rubella Initiative blog.
Measles cases in 2013 in the United States are already amongst the highest they’ve been in any year since 2001, according to the most recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Americas eliminated measles in 2000, but the virus continues to be imported from regions where measles still circulates, either through residents returning from travels abroad or from visitors. About half of the measles cases in the US this year originated in Europe.
The latest CDC article discusses 159 cases, nearly two-thirds of which are linked to three outbreaks in communities “with pockets of persons unvaccinated because of philosophical or religious beliefs.” One of the outbreaks – 58 cases – is the largest single outbreak in the United States since 1996, and occurred amongst an orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn. The second – 23 cases – was in a “largely unvaccinated religious community” in North Carolina. A third large outbreak of 21 cases occurred in Texas, and has been linked to a church community. …
These outbreaks are costly to human health and health systems. In Brooklyn, health workers spent time identifying about 3,500 people in health clinics, hospitals, schools and homes who may have been exposed. One child had pneumonia. Two pregnant women were hospitalized, and one miscarried. North Carolina estimates the outbreak added 2200 hours of work for state and local health agencies. In the affected county in Texas, health workers provided extra immunization clinics, epidemiologists investigated the outbreak, and public information officers handled dozens of media requests. In total, 17 people had to be hospitalized.
What are the lessons from these cases? Experts stress that it’s not an issue with specific religions, but pockets of vaccine refusers within these communities …
Measles deaths globally dropped 71% from 2000-2011 due to country efforts to vaccinate children, many with support from the Measles & Rubella Initiative.
So, here are the undeniable statistics. Measles in the world are going down. Measles in the USA are going up. Measles is going down where children are vaccinated. Measles is returning where people stop vaccinating children. In 2011, around the world 158,000 people died. Most were children. Notice what is said, those who refuse vaccination are, “but pockets of vaccine refusers within these communities.” The Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn has one of the highest rates of vaccination in that area. But, a pocket of their people refused to vaccinate, opening the door for the measles outbreak. The same was true of the Texas outbreak, it was linked to a particular church community. Sadly, the tendency of the bigger group that surrounds the refusers is to protect them rather than to challenge them.
As a result of both bad theology and bad information about vaccinations, we continue to have pockets of “good” religious people refusing to vaccinate their children. And, the follow-up result is that while measles around the world is going down, measles is returning to the USA. It may be time to take off the gloves and to tell the “good” religious people that they are neither good nor truly religious. It may be time to begin to openly preach that we are pro-vaccination and to not listen to the refusers. Are you Baptist, or Catholic, or Lutheran, or Methodist, or Presbyterian, or Orthodox? Every major variety of Baptist, of Catholic, of Methodist, of Presbyterian, of Orthodox, support vaccination efforts. I do not have time to list every possible major denominational option, but the support for vaccination is strong. It may be time to start preaching that. Our children are worth the effort.
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