By Tom Ashbrook
On Point Radio (2/9/15)
The growing rash of measles cases and new calls to make vaccination mandatory.
In the year 2000, measles was eliminated from the United States. Gone. This year and last? It’s back with a vengeance. An outbreak in Disneyland, and it threatens the country. Why the return? The vulnerability? American vaccination rates. They are down. Lower now than in Zimbabwe. Bangladesh. Tanzania. Anti-vaccination Americans have opted out, leaving everyone more exposed. Now there is pushback. State legislators saying “enough.” Proposing mandatory vaccination to get back our “herd immunity.” This hour On Point: the push for mandatory vaccination in America.
Guests
- Liz Szabo, medical reporter for USA Today. (@lizszabo)
- Dr. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), California State Senator. Pediatrician. (@drpanmd)
- Steven Salzberg, professor of medicine and bio-statistics at Johns Hopkins University. Blogs about pseudo-science and “bad medicine” for Forbes Magazine. (@StevenSalzberg1)
Link to Story and 46-Minute Audio
- Mumps Outbreak In Idaho Spreads To Washington State - SEATTLE, Feb 9 (Reuters) - An outbreak of mumps that started at an Idaho university and infected 21 people across the state has now spread to neighboring Washington state, health officials said on Monday. The spread of mumps, a highly contagious virus that leads to painful swelling of the salivary glands, comes as a wider measles outbreak has infected more than 100 people in California and over a dozen more in 19 other U.S. states and Mexico since December … Read the Rest
- What Psychologists Say About Anti-Vaxxers: They’re Raging Narcissists - Narcissism is the perfect formula for choosing not to vaccinate your kids. No, not everyone who makes this choice is narcissistic, but the pervasive cultural narcissism in the U.S. makes these ideas possible and accepted even without individuals displaying the personality trait. Either way, it’s remarkable how many characteristics of narcissism map on to anti-vaccine ideas … Read the Rest
