There have been stories in recent years that childhood vaccines may cause autism. I have no idea whether or not this is true. My children were routinely vaccinated in the 1970’s with no ill effects, but I have no idea if today’s vaccines are the same as the ones given to my children. However, as more and more people decide to decline vaccinations for their children because of fear of autism, we need to look at the consequences of that decision (for all of us).<\/p>\n
The New York Post<\/a> posted an article today about measles in America.<\/p>\n The New York Post reports:<\/p>\n America has charted 387 cases of measles across 15 states since the beginning of the year \u2014 the second-highest number of reported infections since the disease was declared \u201celiminated\u201d in 2000.<\/strong><\/p>\n The number was topped only once before, in 2014, when 667 cases were reported by the same date.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s graph<\/a> of year-over-year cases \u2014 updated every Monday \u2014 shows that 2019 passed last year in terms of outbreaks as of March 28. There were 372 cases confirmed by this time in 2018.<\/strong><\/p>\n The states that have reported cases are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n Outbreaks \u2014 defined as three or more cases \u2014 are ongoing in California (Santa Cruz and Butte County), New Jersey, New York (Rockland County and New York City) and Washington, according to the CDC.<\/strong><\/p>\n Rockland County has banned unvaccinated minors from public spaces. The recurrence of measles in America is the result of two things–parents who refuse to vaccinate their children and travelers who brought the disease to America from foreign countries such as Israel, Ukraine and the Philippines, which currently have measles outbreaks.<\/p>\n We need to find a way to make the vaccine safer (divided into more doses?) to assure parents that it is a good idea to vaccinate their children. This is a public health issue. The other aspect of this measles epidemic is that we need to make sure we control our borders to insure that immigrants are not bringing diseases into this country that have been eradicated. We need to question both legal and illegal immigrants about their health history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There have been stories in recent years that childhood vaccines may cause autism. I have no idea whether or not this is true. My children were routinely vaccinated in the 1970’s with no ill effects, but I have no idea … Continue reading