FDA Commissioner Says Federal Government Could Solve Vaccine Crisis

Several measles outbreaks in states with lax vaccine legislation could prompt the Food and Drug Administration to take action at the federal level, thereby overriding state exemptions to ensure that fewer drugs are available. Children should be allowed to avoid their vaccines.

"Some states apply such exemptions to the point of creating epidemics of a magnitude that will have national consequences," said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, FDA Commissioner, CNN. He warned that persistent outbreaks and general state exemptions could "force the hand of federal health agencies".

Medical groups have been urging states to strengthen their exemption laws for years. A slight decrease in the vaccination rate in a given community can dramatically increase the rates of infection – and mortality – due to the disease. Experts estimate that high rates of MMR vaccination alone save more than one million lives each year.

"To protect the health of the community in today's mobile society, policymakers should not allow individuals to be vaccinated for purely personal or practical reasons," writes L & # 39; American Medical Association in 2015. The American Medical Association is even more brutal, inviting "All States to use their public health authority to eliminate non-medical exemptions."

Nevertheless, 47 states and the District of Columbia allow vaccine exemptions for religious beliefs. Seventeen states go a step further and even allow exemptions for non-religious "personal convictions".

The federal government's vaccine exemption measures would be a major and debatable change for anti-vaccination activists and for those who are suspicious of the federal government. Immunization rules have traditionally been the responsibility of state governments, which generally control standards for schooling and security. Perhaps out of respect for the status quo, Gottlieb avoided explaining what a national FDA-run intervention might look like. The self-appointed promoter of state rights also expressed the hope that states will tighten their laws by themselves.

More stringent state immunization laws make the difference. The three states that do not allow religious or personal exemptions (Mississippi, West Virginia and California) are not surprising among those with the highest vaccination rates in the country. In addition to these three paradises, states that allow large exemptions for non-medical vaccines are seeing the near-total return of diseases eradicated with impunity. Last year, 372 cases of measles were reported nationally, but preliminary data from the CDC show that the United States is on track for 1,100 cases of measles this year. This would represent a peak in ten years, nearly double the 667 cases reported in 2014.

With the outbreak of measles cases and overwhelming evidence that vaccines are safe, politicians will find it increasingly difficult to ignore the crisis. In the absence of decisive action on the part of state governments, the federal government may well have no choice but to intervene or sit back while the infection continues. spreads throughout the country.