There was a nearly year-long measles outbreak in New York, USA, beginning in October 2018, though it was not reported much. In October 2019, the US declared the end of the outbreak and just about managed to retain its measles elimination status declared nearly 20 years ago.
A country may lose the measles elimination status if a chain of transmission from a given outbreak is sustained for more than 12 months.
The outbreak in New York City led to more than 600 confirmed cases. The outbreak in nearby Rockland County, New York, started the next day and led to more than 300 cases. While 29 other states reported outbreaks in the past year, these did not last long.
The year-long transmission in New York highlights the possibility of a sustained spread of measles in small pockets even when vaccine coverage with two doses nationally is high. Inequities in vaccine coverage, or gaps in vaccine coverage between communities, age groups and geographic areas in countries with high coverage at the national level, may provide a fertile ground for outbreaks and for prolonged spread in under-immunised groups. Vaccine coverage among children belonging to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community was not high; measles vaccination coverage in schools in the outbreak area was only 77 per cent. Low protection in children of this community is seen as amounting to a high risk of getting infected by unvaccinated people returning from countries with ongoing measles transmission. In addition, there was also a delay in vaccination, as the controversies surrounding the safety of vaccines is a well-acknowledged matter and very much a concern. Parents had refused to vaccinate their children fearing that the vaccine might cause autism, which is considered a fallout of vaccination that is not immediately perceived. While 1,249 cases of measles were laboratory-confirmed in 2019 from 22 outbreaks in 31 states, 75 per cent of the cases were restricted to the Orthodox Jewish community in New York.
In India
In India, firstly, there are huge pockets of under-immunised children, and secondly, the immunisation coverage with two doses at the national level is far below the World Health Organization level of 95 per cent needed for protection and elimination. Intensified efforts to increase immunisation coverage in recent years have led to a sharp drop in the number of measles cases annually in India. Yet, in the October 2018-2019 period, India reported 71,834 cases, the third highest number in the world, according to the WHO.
While India intends to eliminate measles by 2020, the vaccination coverage has nowhere reached the 95 per cent threshold for two doses. According to the June 2019 WHO and UNICEF estimate for national immunisation coverage, measles vaccine coverage in India in 2018 for the first dose was 90 per cent. It was 80 per cent for the second dose. But the reported coverage levels are “likely an overestimation”, the report cautions, based on a coverage evaluation survey.
Protection offered by maternal antibodies last for only four-five months, while the first dose of measles immunisation is at nine-12 months of age. About 15% of children in India fail to develop immunity from the first dose of measles vaccine. In other words, older children need to be fully protected by giving them two doses at least.
The Problems with Vaccines
Vaccines have been at the centre of controversies ever since they were first administered as a panacea for severe diseases especially where children were concerned. In around the mid-twentieth century, there was just the small pox vaccine given to all. Then a handful of vaccines began to be administered and today there are countries where a child is scheduled to take more than 30 vaccines before he reaches the age of 6! And there is an extra potential for approximately 30 more by the time they reach 18! But with all those vaccines, there has been a declining trend in general health and immunity among all children as well as adults—those who have received a series of vaccines since their infancy.
What has stunned researchers is that USA, for example, which makes it legal for children to obtain more vaccines than any other country in the world, has one of the worst infant death rates, and this especially for healthy infants born complete term! In 1960, America ranked 12th in baby mortality among all countries. In 2005, it had fallen to number 30. Today, there are more premature babies than ever there and more full term babies pass away before their first birthday than in most European nations. An approximated 43 to 54 percent of all American children experience a minimum of one chronic illness needing medical compensation, including a staggering 26 per cent of children under age 6 years being at high risk for developmental, social or behavioural hold-ups. Over the years, developmental disabilities among American children has increased by a massive 17 per cent and is led by a rise in autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
It is accepted by all that vaccines do cause ‘immediate side-effects’ in a few people, ranging from rashes to vomiting to more serious problems rarely. But what is not known is their long-term effects on the body. Worryingly, research has continued to provide evidence linking various immune-related disorders and especially autism to immunisation with vaccines. As the harmful effects of vaccination do not always emerge ‘within a few years’, they are often brushed away as being a result of other health factors and problems. The concern has intensified as, in the modern state, the people have no choice whether to vaccinate or not. It has been made compulsory. In the West, children are barred from schools, there is criminal prosecution of parents and paediatricians do not attend children not vaccinated. No US federal laws, for instance, mandate vaccination as such, but all 50 states require certain vaccinations for children entering public schools.
The debate between the two sides, pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine, is often overloaded on the former front. It is held that illnesses, including rubella, diphtheria, smallpox, polio, and whooping cough, are now prevented by vaccination and millions of children’s lives are saved. Moreover, it is contended that adverse reactions to vaccines are extremely rare. Opponents say that children’s immune systems can deal with most infections naturally, so that many vaccines are not needed. People are never informed about what the vaccines contain, just as they are mostly ignorant about the treatment and medicines administered when admitted into hospitals. It is known that injecting questionable vaccine ingredients into a child may cause seizures, paralysis, and death. Numerous studies prove that vaccines may trigger problems like ADHD and diabetes after some time.
In February 1998, Lancet published an article by Andrew Wakefield, MD, titled ‘Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia, Non-Specific Colitis, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder in Children’. The article claimed that “rubella virus is associated with autism and the combined measles, mumps, and rubella [MMR] vaccine… has also been implicated.” Over time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has responded to the medical objections. In spite of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA, stating that vaccines are very safe in all but a few cases, by November 30, 2009, thimerosal, an important component of all vaccines, had been phased out of all vaccines in that country with the exception of certain influenza, meningococcal, and tetanus vaccines. Thimerosal is an ingredient that raises serious concerns. It is a mercury-based preservative that is thought to cause autism. It is continued to be used in some flu vaccines though there are also thimerosal-free flu vaccinations available.
Steven Lantier MD explains (‘Mandatory Medicines are Bad Medicine, Bad Politics’, The Oklahoman) that the belief that vaccines can cause autism has become widespread and parents seem to be most concerned about the MMR vaccine, which is used to prevent measles, mumps, and rubella. There are thousands of documented cases of vaccines given one day, and regression into autism the next. The same aluminium adjuvant contained in many modern vaccines has been found in autopsies of autistic individuals. Also, the US Vaccine Court believes vaccines cause neurologic injury. By 2018, the court had paid over $3.6 billion in claims.
The incidence of chronic diseases among children—mostly gut and autoimmune related—has become epidemic. It is at 54 per cent and the number is rising in USA. So is it a mere coincidence that vaccinations are designed to hyper-stimulate the immune system? The changes seen in children are the exact same changes that happen to lab animals when they are tested with vaccine material.
“Herd immunity” is cited as a means of ensuring diseases do not return. If the vaccines are given to all or a very large section of the population, that would prevent diseases from returning. However, even when the vaccine rates are very much below their threshold (as in USA, Hepatitis A is 9 per cent; Hepatitis B, 24.5 per cent; pneumococcal, 20.4 per cent; and influenza, 43.2 per cent), outbreaks of these diseases have not occurred for decades. Actually, vaccines often have the opposite effect. Not only can they — and often do — make people sick, it is well documented that vaccinated persons have passed on to others the same virus they were being protected from.
An important question is, why so many vaccines. Life-threatening diseases like small pox may need vaccines but why vaccines for diseases like chicken pox and measles when these are very rarely deadly. In fact, allowing the body of the child to naturally combat these diseases is very good for development of a healthy immune system that is vital. Only a healthy and agile immune system that has been exposed to some infections and diseases can help the body fight off more deadly diseases at a later stage, as it would some natural resistance to pathogens and will have the ability to fight back.
To conclude, bacteria and viruses are part of our set-up. We have them in plenty in our bodies. The overwhelming majority are not only harmless, but necessary for our existence, and even when they show constant mutations, these are mostly for our benefit. Recent research such as by Herbert Virgin, a renowned virologist, shows that viruses and bacteria interact and often affect human genes and not adversely. It is systematically ingrained into the minds that viruses and bacteria kill us; and so the fanaticism in ‘being healthy and clean’, use of ‘antibacterial products’, dread of dust and dirt (as they’ll cause infections) and so on!
Importantly, where people today have a choice in almost everything (when they actually cannot understand whether a thing is good or bad for them), they are not given a choice when it comes to vaccinations though there is a genuine basis for concern. The state and the bureaucrats call the shots in this arena and the people are required to obey when unaware about these vaccines. In this regard, it is suggested that the public should be informed about the ingredients of the vaccines. The truth has to be stated: though effective in short-term in terms of preventing outbreak of some diseases, they can have long-term adverse effects. This approach would also ensure proper safety studies are conducted before administering vaccines and the medical research community and the state that pushes them feel an increased responsibility.