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Measles Cases Have Tripled Globally: What Are Anti-Vaxxers Costing You?

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Measles cases

You’ve seen it every day in the news recently. Anti-vaccination efforts have ramped up diseases that were otherwise eradicated and people are getting sick. In some cases, they are dying. Measles cases alone have tripled around the world in 2019.

Measles Cases Are Up 300% Worldwide

That’s right – the upward trend in measles cases isn’t just happening in the United States. It is happening all over the world in all regions. Africa saw the largest increase in cases with a 700 percent increase in the first three months of this year, compared to the first three months of 2018.

“Preliminary global data shows that reported cases rose by 300% in the first three months of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. This follows consecutive increases over the past two years,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement.

According to WHO, those numbers could also be drastically underplayed. Only one in 10 cases of measles are reported globally. However, the number of deaths and cases of illness continues to climb.

“While this data is provisional and not yet complete, it indicates a clear trend. Many countries are in the midst of sizeable measles outbreaks, with all regions of the world experiencing sustained rises in cases,” WHO stated.

The Rise in Measles Cases

This year, there have been 112,163 measles cases reported in 170 countries. At this time last year, there had only been 22,124 cases reported in 163 countries. And the numbers don’t stop there…

Since September, more than 800 people have died in Madagascar from measles alone. Outbreaks have hit a number of other underdeveloped countries, including Brazil, Pakistan, and Yemen, where a number of deaths have also occurred.

Even in places with high vaccination coverage, like the U.S. and Thailand, there has been an increased number of cases. WHO says this is because vaccination efforts have stalled at just 85 percent, falling short of what is needed. For vaccinations to prevent outbreaks, coverage needs to be at least 95 percent.

Some countries have rallied for the parents’ right to choose to vaccinate their children, ignoring the fact that a 95 percent vaccination rate is necessary for controlling outbreaks. Not only are anti-vax folks causing deaths, but they are also costing you some money.

How the Anti-Vax Movement is Affecting Your Wallet

When it comes to vaccines, not many people talk about the cost of anti-vaxxers to the economy. “It is extremely frustrating,” said John Wiesman, an epidemiologist. “To know the financial cost of this but also to know all the work that is not getting done, or getting backlogged.”

It isn’t unusual for an outbreak of preventable diseases, such as measles, to rack up a tall bill. For instance, a girl in 2005 caused an outbreak in Europe. To contain the outbreak, it cost more than $167,000. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that outbreak took 3,650 work hours, 4,800 phone calls, and 5,500 miles of trips to find and contain the outbreak.

Another case in 2008 caused an outbreak of measles in two Tucson hospitals. Officials estimate it took $800,000 to control that case.

Both YouTube and Facebook have decided to begin quieting the voices of the anti-vaccination movement. YouTube has removed advertising from anti-vax videos, while Facebook has begun removing anti-vaccination groups and communities from its platform.

When it comes down to it, there is no debate to be had about the profound benefits of vaccines. More than 20 million lives have been saved from the measles vaccine alone since 2000. While some hesitation is understandable, lives are being put at risk and it is costing you cold, hard cash.

Readers, what do you think about the spike in measles cases? Is it something to be concerned about?

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Expanding Disneyland Measles Outbreak Fuels Vaccine Exemption Debate

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Exapnding Disneyland measles outbreak highlights anti-vaccine debate

As you travel south toward Orange County, California, the homes you see become larger and more expensive. Unsurprisingly, these homeowners are wealthier than their northern counterparts. Look through the medical records of the wealthiest families’ children and another trend becomes apparent, a more dangerous one that might endanger children far beyond this enclave.

As Matt Zahn, medical director of Epidemiology and Assessment for the Orange County Health Care Agency told The Guardian, “The rate of immunization falls as you go north to south. It tracks the socioeconomic statistics in the country.” For example, at the Capistrano Unified school district, the Guardian reports that 9.5 percent of children are not fully vaccinated because of their parent’s beliefs, as opposed to 0.2 percent of kindergartners at the nearby and poorer Santa Ana Unified district.

In another article about the relationship between wealth and non-vaccination rates, The Atlantic published that in some schools, up to 60 to 70 percent of parents have filled “personal belief exemptions,” which rivals a vaccination rate as low as Chad or South Sudan.

However, those parents who choose to exempt their children from receiving vaccines are doing more than asserting their “personal beliefs.” The article in The Atlantic emphasizes that, “Vaccines work through herd immunity. A community can only be protected when 92 percent or more of a population is immunized…” As can be easily seen in Wikipedia infographic, when a critical portion of a population is vaccinated, it prevents the spread of illnesses, which is especially important for individuals too young to be inoculated, or with medical conditions that “make vaccination risky, as well as the few who receive the vaccine but don’t derive immunity from it.”

This information proves essential in light of the ongoing measles outbreak that started at Disneyland, with 51 confirmed cases; all of the infected individuals had not been vaccinated for the disease. Already, the nation has seen a 350 percent increase in the measles caseload, which according to U-T San Diego has intensified the controversy surrounding those parents who exempt their children from vaccination.

When the nation began routinely inoculating children with the measles, rubella and mumps vaccine, measles was no longer considered a public health role. However, a 1998 publication (later discredited and retracted — it’s clear vaccines are safe) stating that the ingredients of vaccines are linked to autism, sparked hysteria among some parents, and activated the anti-vaccination movement. As the number of autism cases also began to rise, some parents, most notably former porn star Jenny McCarthy, began to speak out (very loudly) against vaccination, which she blamed for her son’s own case of autism. Though that 1998 paper has since been retracted and discredited, the anti-vaccination movement is thriving and the number of non-vaccinated children continues to increase, especially in California and Oregon.

Barbara Loe Fisher, director of the National Vaccine Information Center, an anti-vaccination organization, told U-T San Diego that she distrusts healthcare practitioners’ claims about the importance of vaccination. She told the publication, “We do not truly understand the scope of vaccine injury…We need to give respect to parents who are trying to do the best for their children.”

But health care providers and scientists disagree with her perspective and consider it even dangerous. As discussed in an L.A. Times editorial, the Disneyland outbreak (which is already spreading beyond Orange County) serves as an important reminder of what we stand to lose if even a few individuals behave irresponsibly.

(Photo courtesy of davebloggs007)

Prevention and Honesty Are Always Less Expensive

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vet shots

This summer in our area has been a terrible one for rabies. At least three dogs have had to be put down because their owners didn’t get them a rabies shot and the dogs later came into contact with rabid wildlife. While I won’t argue about what constitutes responsible pet ownership, I will argue about the financial irresponsibility of the decision not to get a pet vaccinated. One of the pet owners is currently in very deep financial trouble. Here are the problems he’s facing:

  • He had to put the dog down. While it’s sad, it’s also costly. He had to pay the vet for the procedure.
  • He and his family must now undergo rabies shots. That’s two weeks of daily shots. Even with insurance, there are still copays and deductibles. Not to mention discomfort.
  • He’s being sued by his neighbors. Since anyone who came in contact with the dog (human or animal) must also undergo preventative rabies shots or get boosters, his neighbors are suing him for their own treatments and that of their pets. (Apparently the dog was very friendly and roamed the neighborhood, playing with kids and other pets.)
  • He has to pay the fine. Since a rabies vaccination is state law here, he has to pay the fine for non-compliance.
  • He owes back taxes. Because he lives in a county that requires a pet ownership tax, the county is coming after him for the money that he never paid, plus interest and penalties. (More on this below.)

All of this over a shot that’s about $25 at the vet for a three year vaccine. (And you can get them for as little as $5 at clinics.) When asked why he didn’t have it done, he said it was because the information would have been reported to the state which would have triggered his county to levy the “pet ownership” tax on him. He thought he was being smart and dodging a tax.

In our county that tax is only $20 per year. Let’s just say the dog had lived twelve years. That would have only been four rabies shots, or $100. And twelve years in taxes would have been $240. So a grand total of $340 over the dog’s lifetime compared to the thousands he’s now facing in treatments, back taxes, and lawsuits. Not to mention the death of his dog. Doesn’t look so smart now, does it?

This is just one example of what happens when people try to skimp on prevention and/do something dishonest. They think they’re saving money by not going and getting that physical, skipping their own immunizations, not fixing that tiny drip in the faucet, dodging the tax man, not taking down that dead tree that’s hanging over the neighbors house, or ignoring their oil changes. They think it’s smart to cut corners and save money. In most cases, though, it’s really dumb to skimp on prevention. Sure, you may get away with something for a while. But when the poop hits the fan (and it probably will) you’ll be faced with costs that make the preventative cost seem like buying a gum ball out of a machine.

When the car dies from lack of maintenance, that’s thousands of dollars in repair or replacement. When the faucet drip becomes a flood, that’s thousands of dollars in flood damage. When that dead tree falls on your neighbors’ kid or house, you’re going to face a huge lawsuit. When you’ve skipped enough physicals and discover that you have a disease that will now cost hundreds of thousands to treat, you’ll wish you’d paid the $30 copay and just gone to the doctor. When you don’t report things to the county or state that you’re supposed to and they find out, they will come after you for everything you owe plus penalties and interest. Trying to be dishonest or dodge things you need to do just leads to more trouble than it’s worth.

If you want to save yourself a lot of money (and headaches), just do what you’re supposed to do. Take care of preventative tasks when they first arise. Deal with the maintenance of your body and property. Don’t think you’re being smart or “sticking it to the man” if you try to dodge your taxes. Just pay up, be honest and deal with it. It’ll be far cheaper in the long run.

(Photo courtesy of Tobyotter)