Stirring The Vaccination Pot: 2011 Was The Worst Year For Measles Due To Low Vaccine Rates

Prepare for the vaccination smackdown! The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has the fresh numbers in from the 2011 measles cases and they aren’t positive. In fact, they are the worst numbers in the last 15 years, and a majority of these cases were unvaccinated individuals. Such findings add a new wrinkle to heated discussions about vaccines for children.

USA Today reports that were 222 cases in 2011, which is quite a jump from the typical 50 to 60 cases each year. The majority of these cases were picked up by foreigners who were visiting the States or by American citizens who contracted the disease over the pond. No one died due to the virus, but one-third of those 222 cases resulted in hospitalization. And experts are citing a lack of vaccinations as the cause for the uptick:

Health official say outbreaks in the U.S. have been fueled by low vaccination rates in Europe and elsewhere…At least two-thirds of the Americans who got the measles hadn’t been vaccinated.

Admist parental debates over whether an unvaccinated child can even have a playdate, these numbers add gasoline to an already raging fire.

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