World Health Organization lists "vaccine hesitancy" as a global health threat

[AussieNeil]

"Vaccine hesitancy, where people are reluctant or refuse to have themselves or their children vaccinated, is a growing trend among those fearing negative health outcomes from immunizations, such as the (non-existent) risk of autism. This collective uncertainty has now gathered such momentum that the World health Organization (WHO) sees fit to list vaccine hesitancy as one of its 10 threats to global health in 2019, alongside other more established dangers such as air pollution and drug-resistant bacteria."

newatlas.com/world-health-o...

Note that one other listed global health threat is a global influenza pandemic:

who.int/emergencies/ten-thr...

See the Pinned Post on which non-live vaccines are recommended to reduce your risk of a potentially fatal infection here: healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

Neil

Photo: Super blood wolf moon 2019 from Australia (where we didn't see the eclipse)

[JR1964]

Thanks for the post Neil. I belong to a Facebook group that deals with different diseases- such as cancer, heart disease, etc. It mainly is a site for natural cures. I take everything there with a grain of salt. But it just floors me when I see individuals post there about being against vaccines. On a trip across the US back in November, the wife became ill with a constant cough. So I took her to a local clinic for treatment. She came out and was surprised by a comment the doctor made. She was asked if she had her flu shot for the year. She replied yes. The doctor looked surprised. She told her in this area , that there were numerous amount of individuals that refuse to take any vaccinations. I fear one day because of this way of thinking that many will have to suffer to prove once again the value of a ounce of prevention is a pound of cure. STAY STRONG JR. 🤠🤠

[whitelily22]

Thank you Aussie for this article and the great Moon wolf photo!

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

No More 'Truth Decay' - It's time to stand up against anti-vaxxers

by Scott Ratzan, MD and Kenneth Rabin, PhD (With my emphasis)

"The alarming global rise in what public health authorities delicately refer to as "vaccine hesitancy" is a stark example. Worldwide childhood vaccination rates have plummeted for years.

As a result, the essential threshold of what scientists call community or "herd" immunity is at risk. If this numerical dam (a 90%-95% vaccination rate for highly communicable diseases like measles, 80%-85% for less communicable ones like polio) is breached, society could once again confront tragic and costly new epidemics of "conquered" diseases, such as polio, rubella, mumps, measles, and pertussis.

The consequences of "vaccine hesitancy" could unravel decades of healthcare progress, and render meaningless some of the greatest triumphs of medical research in the last century.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the clear and undisputed success of childhood vaccinations -- it has been estimated that for each birth cohort in the United States receiving recommended childhood immunizations, around 20 million illnesses and more than 40,000 deaths are prevented, resulting in $70 billion in savings -- the public health establishment has failed to respond assertively to opponents of mandatory immunization.

:

Anti-Vax in the U.S.

In America, for example, measles stands as a stunning example of how the "anti-vaxxers" have united to helped bring back a disease we thought we had consigned to the dustbin of history. Three generations ago, uncontrolled annual epidemics of measles infected three million to four million Americans annually. Victims typically suffered a painful itching, sometimes scarring rash, accompanied by fever and diarrhea. Severe cases led to pneumonia or encephalitis. In bad years, as many as 48,000 American children were hospitalized, 4,000 contracted encephalitis, and 450 died.

Beginning in the mid-1960s, an effective measles vaccination was mandated for American schoolchildren, and the disease was brought to heel. By 2000 the U.S. Public Health Service proudly declared that measles had been eliminated in the United States.

But this year, a scant two decades after we declared final victory, sustained "anti-vax" pressure on young parents has brought measles back with a vengeance, with 372 cases confirmed in 2018. So far through Feb. 10, 2019, already over 250 cases have been reported, almost all in children who have not been vaccinated. The problem is not confined to the U.S., as measles cases have also seen a 30% annual increase globally.

This alarming rise in measles cases, driven by variation in vaccine coverage and consequent losses of herd immunity in regions of the U.S. and other countries, stems entirely from "anti-vaxxer" messages that link the measles vaccine to autism. Scientists have long since disproven this connection, but the "anti-vaxxers" continue to push it aggressively. Increasing number of parents now choose to give their children no vaccinations at all."

Full article: medpagetoday.com/infectious...