US government can force states to enforce tougher vaccine laws

The US government may soon force states to implement more stringent immunization rules in the event of a measles outbreak across the country.

Scott Gottlieb, FDA Commissioner, told CNN on Tuesday:[If] some states continue in the path where they are, I think they're going to force the hand of the federal health agencies. "

Its main concerns are the 17 states where exemptions are allowed for "personal or philosophical reasons".

This includes Washington, where at least 50 have recently contracted measles, and Texas, with eight cases registered.

In New York, the problem is different: the state, which requires vaccines for everyone, except for medical and religious reasons, is currently trying to contain a measles epidemic in its Hasidic Jewish community.

Spotlight on states where "personal exemptions" are allowed for vaccines because of the occurrence of measles cases throughout the country.

It is unclear what the government could do to impose the vaccination, but Dr. Gottlieb insisted that some "rules" could be imposed.

Globally, measles cases rose 300% last year.

Health officials say the growing number of unvaccinated communities is behind this boom.

"Some states have put in place exemptions of such magnitude that they create epidemics of a magnitude that will have national implications," Dr. Gottlieb told CNN.

The National Vaccine Information Center, a nonprofit and vaccine skeptic, said the choice to give up vaccination was a human right.

But Dr. Gottlieb and colleagues in other federal agencies said there is no gray area: the measles vaccine works and saves lives.

According to the World Health Organization, epidemics are likely to occur when vaccination coverage is less than 95%.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), sighed when asked if he was reluctant to vaccinate. NIH is putting effort and money into designing a vaccine to protect people from the notoriously elusive flu, which is mutated every year when it pbades from humans to migratory birds, and then comes back.

The measles vaccine, he said, is simple: "It's" one-and-done ".

"Everyone should be vaccinated. Period, "said Dr. Fauci.