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Vaccines are making headlines this year as a result of the largest measles outbreak in the United States since 1992 and after the elimination of the virus in 2000. More than 1,200 people were diagnosed with measles in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Despite the spread of the disease and the advocacy of the centers for immunization, the Sentinel Newspaper have reported that nearly 49,000 children benefiting from a vaccine-exempt waiver are returning to school this week in Wisconsin.
"I really think it's pure luck that it has not spread in Wisconsin," said James Conway, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin's School of Medicine and Public Health. Sentinel story:
Immunization rates of 92% to 95% are considered necessary to provide what health officials call "group immunity". This term is used to describe a level of vaccination high enough to prevent the spread of infection to those who are susceptible, which can lead to widespread infection. trigger. The vulnerable group includes children under one year old who are too young to receive vaccines and children whose immune systems are weakened.
The most recent vaccination rates in Wisconsin, county by county, are sobering. The 2018 figures measure the percentages of children aged 5 and 6 years who received at least two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, the amount needed to fully vaccinate a child.
Not a single county in 2018 has approached the 92% threshold. In fact, 40 out of 72 counties had vaccination rates below 80%.
"I would not be surprised at all if I woke up tomorrow to learn that the measles outbreak had reached Wisconsin," said Malia Jones, assistant scientist at the Applied Population Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin. Madison, according to the Sentinel report. "Not surprised at all."
"Obviously, we should be alarmed by the fact that we are below the threshold of herd immunity and, what is even more important, in the wrong direction," said the representative of the United States. State, Gordon Hintz, a Democrat from Oshkosh, who proposed in May legislation to eliminate the personal exemption. vaccinations, said in the Sentinel report.
"Exemptions for personal, religious or health reasons have increased by more than 9 percent in Wisconsin over the past three academic years," said the president. Sentinel reported. "In 2018-2019, the exemptions totaled 49,039 people."
"I would say that if a child gets the facts himself and is told what the nature of these diseases is, he would choose to receive something that would not make him go through this disease," said James H. Conway, professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in the Sentinel report. "It's selfish for parents to put their children at risk because of an agenda on personal freedom and personal choice."
"Conway said unvaccinated children are also at risk because air travel could lead to new cases of measles in the country," said the president. Sentinel reported. "Public health officials said the low vaccination rate in Wisconsin was a reflection of a national anti-vaccine movement based on misinformation on social networks, worry that blows could cause damage and a long-standing retracted article suggesting a false link between vaccines and autism. "
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