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Measles outbreak in the US was entirely avoidable
Low vaccination rates contributed to the re-emergence of a disease declared eradicated in the country 25 years ago.
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Each cluster of infections becomes more dangerous as vaccination rates in the US soften.
PHOTO: AFP
Lisa Jarvis
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A measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico has killed one person and sickened more than 130, and public health experts fear it is only the beginning. It is an entirely avoidable health emergency fuelled by weaknesses in our vaccine forcefield.
It is also not hard to imagine this type of emergency becoming much worse, much faster, if Mr Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, further undermines the safety of and access to the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.
