The outbreak of measles that began in Disneyland the week before Christmas is rapidly growing.
According to several news outlets, the number of cases nearly doubled this week with approximately one hundred confirmed cases in seven states.
This outbreak, similar to the whooping cough epidemic of 2014, has sparked a debate surrounding vaccinations as health officials are publicly urging patients to make sure that their vaccinations are up to date. to protect themselves and prevent the spread of the illness.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recently spoke with PBS regarding the outbreak, its causes and how people can protect themselves and their families.“The overwhelming number of people who have gotten infected, particularly among the children, are children that have not been vaccinated, because parents, for reasons that are really not based on any scientific data, just don’t want their children to be vaccinated. And it’s really unfortunate, because vaccination can prevent all of this” said Fauci.
The editorial board of The Xavierite has agreed that vaccinations are a necessity for the human population. Without vaccinations, parents are helping long dead diseases in coming back at an alarming rate.
The measles, whooping cough and polio are diseases that we dealt with long ago. Highly intelligent medical experts came up with a very helpful medicine to put these diseases to rest and now we have actresses with no medical education background digging them back up. We’re looking at you, Jenny McCarthy.
When it comes to health issues, the “what if” game is a dangerous one to play. In terms of vaccinations, the board feels that what we know with certainty about their benefits (that they prevent some very serious, highly contagious diseases) should far outweigh some of the negative health effects that have yet to be conclusively proven. The easiest way to cure something is to prevent it altogether.
Regarding the concept of vaccines, no one on staff at The Xavierite is a medical doctor, however what we all agree upon is that it seems like prevention is the key.
Why disregard something that seems to work for the majority of people because something bad might happen? It is safe to say that we cannot have an “It won’t happen to me” attitude when it comes to infectious illness and that may be part of the problem in this outbreak.
The longer a disease has been out of the news and out of the public eye, the easier it is to disregard it as a real threat. Perhaps this measles outbreak caught some people unprepared.
Hopefully, this is will serve as a wake up call for Americans about the severity of some of these seemingly eradicated illnesses and the importance of protecting yourself and your family through vaccinations.
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