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One of the biggest risks in public health is that elected officials have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Republican Rep. Bill Zedler, representing the state of Texas, recently spoke of the growing concern over the measles epidemic and the prospect of making vaccines mandatory to prevent the spread of highly contagious disease. . You will probably not be shocked to learn that he is strongly opposed to vaccination requirements.
As the Texas Observer According to his information, Zedler continued his anti-vaccination campaign by expressing his support for a new bill that would further facilitate the choice of parents to evade the compulsory vaccination of their children. His reasoning is, to say the least, flawed.
"They mean people are dying of measles. Yes, in third world countries, they die of measles, "Zedler said, according to reports. "Today, with antibiotics and that sort of thing, they do not die in America."
It's admirable that Zedler has enough faith in modern medicine to believe that antibiotics are fighting measles, but unfortunately that's just not true. Antibiotics, but their very nature, fight against bacterial infections and not viruses. Measles, a highly contagious and incurable virus, is easily prevented by the vaccines most people receive as children.
The measles vaccine is usually administered as part of a battery of vaccines that prevent diseases such as mumps and rubella and are effective in 97% of people. Measles, once thought to be wiped out in the United States through vaccination efforts, is making a comeback, especially in states with lax immunization laws.
The Texas Observer observes that measles and mumps also reappear in Texas, with their cases reaching a record level in 2017 and several cases of measles confirmed as early as 2019.
Image Source: LYNN BO BO / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
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