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By Marian Wright Edelman
I have never forgotten the sadness of my family after the senseless death of Johnny Harrington, my childhood neighbor, who lived at three houses in our manse in Bennettsville, South Carolina. Johnny walked on a rusty nail and died of tetanus because his grandmother, who worked very hard, did not have a doctor to advise him or the money to pay for health care. Over the last four decades, the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) has fought with many others to advocate for policies and programs to ensure that every American child is vaccinated against preventable diseases such as tetanus, polio and measles.
Still, in 2019, headlines such as "The new cases of measles in the United States beat the record of 25 years" raise fear and worry, especially among parents. How can we be witnessing more and more outbreaks of a declared disease eliminated in the United States almost two decades ago? The response involves a combination of factors: the spread of misinformation and lies from a limited but opposed number of opponents to the vaccine, gaps in immunization coverage, and a national and global increase in preventable disease epidemics. by vaccination. The United States has already registered more than 1,000 cases of measles this year, most of them occurring in children. As we explain in a new brief, this growing crisis is putting our children at risk and must be stopped.
The facts are simple: vaccines are safe. They are very effective. They are supported by all major US medical societies and government agencies and are part of routine pediatric care. However, the growing number of VPD outbreaks suggests that there is still much to be done to support vaccination and halt the spread of serious – and potentially fatal – diseases. The bottom line is that to stop measles and other serious diseases, parents need to have access to factual information from reliable sources to combat fraudulent information disseminated by the anti-vaccination movement in the United States and in the United States. whole world. To ensure that parents are aware, health care providers, educators, children's groups, policy makers and religious leaders must advocate for immunization and policies must support immunization and limit exemptions to only legitimate medical reasons.
Why are vaccines so important? Vaccines save lives and protect against the long-term health consequences. They reduce disability and suffering, help to increase life expectancy and help reduce health disparities. They are one of the greatest successes in public health and modern medicine. From 1994 to 2016, childhood vaccinations prevented about 281 million childhood illnesses, 855,000 child deaths and nearly $ 1.65 trillion in health care costs. Every dollar invested in immunization generates $ 3 in direct benefits and $ 10 in benefits when societal costs are included. They also save money for states and localities, which support the often high cost of screening and treating infected people. For example, measles costs an average of $ 32,000 per case.
Measles is a very good case study on the benefits of vaccines. Prior to the introduction of the vaccine in 1963, measles killed approximately 400 to 500 American children each year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), measles has been eliminated throughout the Americas, from Canada to Chile, although the United States and Venezuela are currently experiencing outbreaks. However, measles remains endemic elsewhere in the world, including Europe, Asia, the Pacific and Africa. About 10 million people are infected each year and nearly 110,000 die, mostly children under five. Measles can have serious and lifelong health consequences for those who survive. It is also highly contagious, so much so that an unvaccinated person who walks around a room until two hours after the departure of a person with measles has about a 90% chance of falling sick. Very young people face an increased risk: most infants do not receive their first measles vaccine before about one year old and the consequences of infection can be particularly severe in babies and children. young children. In the United States, one-third of reported measles cases occurred in children under five, and most were children under 18 who had not been fully immunized.
Yet, despite all the conclusive evidence that vaccinations are safe and protect against dangerous diseases, small groups of people in the United States and around the world choose to give up all or part of the vaccines for themselves and their children, putting thus their children, their families and their communities. This trend of hesitation and refusal of vaccines has been widespread in recent years around the world, as misinformation about the safety of vaccines and the severity of vacuum tests commonly shared by members of the anti-AIDS movement -vaccination or "anti-vax" on the internet and through social media doubt among parents around the world. But we must not let misinformation and fear lead to a new generation of children in danger.
With the start of the new school year, it is essential that parents and legal guardians ensure that their children are up-to-date with vaccines. That's why, along with our new memoir, we've created a friendly guide for parents, families, educators and anyone who wants to understand vaccines, how they work, how safe and effective they are, and how they work. protect our children even death. Please read and share widely. The science is clear: vaccines work. Vaccine-preventable diseases are dangerous and can be fatal. Rapid action must be taken on many fronts to slow, stop or eliminate disease outbreaks in the United States and abroad. The life of our children depends on it.
Marian Wright Edelman, president emeritus of the Children's Advocacy Fund, has the mission to ensure every child a healthy start, a healthy start, a fair start, a safe and moral start, as well as a successful pbad to the child. 39, adulthood with the help of families and caring communities. For more information, visit www.childrensdefense.org.
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