900 deaths in Madagascar, could this happen in the United States?

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A measles outbreak is spreading in a county in Washington known for not choosing to vaccinate its children, and health officials have declared a public health emergency.
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While public health officials are monitoring a measles outbreak in Washington State, the World Health Organization has announced that a separate measles outbreak in Madagascar has killed more than 900 people .

Since the beginning of the epidemic in September, the East African country has recorded more than 68,000 cases of highly infectious disease, according to the WHO. According to the organization, 553 people have died and 373 others are believed to have died from measles. Babies are the most at risk.

Could something like this happen in the United States? WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said the high number of deaths and the number of infections were attributed to the low vaccination rate (less than 60%) of measles on the island. In the United States, over 90% of Americans receive the recommended vaccines, according to CDC data. Thus, an epidemic of this size in America would be rare, but health officials fear that the number of measles cases will increase in parallel with the anti-vaccination trend.

People who choose not to vaccinate have become a global threat to health in 2019, reported WHO. The CDC recognized that the number of children who had not been vaccinated before the age of 24 months was gradually increasing. Last week, a group of Arizona lawmakers approved bills likely to extend vaccine exemptions granted to schoolchildren in the state.

In this picture, a young child is presented with a classic measles rash after four days. (Photo11: photo of the CDC document)

More: What you need to know about the measles outbreak that has affected more than 60 people in Washington and is a hot spot anti-vaccination