The anti-vaxxer's are reaping what they sowed. After officially eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 measles is back.
This year there have been six confirmed measles outbreaks in ten states including New York, Texas and Washington State. Washington state is one of 17 states that allows vaccine exemptions for personal philosophical reasons and nearly one out of four kindergartners weren't vaccinated in Clark County, the epicenter of a measles out break that has prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency.
About 90 to, 95 percent of a population needs to be vaccinated against measles in order to keep the disease from spreading.
Vaccines create 'heard immunity'. If enough people have their shots, diseases can't spread as easily, and that protects people who can't be vaccinated themselves.....including very young babies, people with vaccine allergies, and those with compromised immune systems.
One person can infect from 12 to 18 other people in an unvaccinated population....making it one of the most contagious diseases known to science.
From the March 8 2019 copy of The Week magazine page 11........ The anti-vaxxer's impact.
Also noted is that Social media has become one of the main sources of vaccine misinformation. Data for Democracy.