Recently starlet Amanda Peet infamously stated in Cookie Magazine that "parents who don't vaccinate their children are parasites.". On Cookie.com she responded (and kinda apologized), in due part from the avalanche of criticism she received from her comments, that “I still believe that the decision not to vaccinate our children bodes for a dangerous future. Vast reductions in immunization will lead to a resurgence of deadly viruses. This is as indisputable as global warming. I know a lot of parents who secretly use as a justification.” "Well, enough other people are vaccinating, so therefore, we don't have to." She continues to write that “It's so hard to appreciate vaccines now that so few children are dying from preventable diseases today, but that could all change if we're not vigilant. There are currently multiple measles outbreaks in the United States. Hopefully children do not have to die before people start to realize the cost of withholding vaccines.”
Well, it looks like Amanda Peet had a point. New studies have found that measles cases have been popping up at their highest level in more than ten years. And half of those cases are from kids who didn’t get vaccinated. There’s been 131 cases so far this year (a 7 month span) whereas there were just 42 cases all of last year. Fortunately, there were no fatalities of those inflicted but there were 15 that had to be hospitalized. In addition to the Measles outbreak, about seventeen kids caught the whooping cough in the San Francisco Bay Area, and thirteen of those had not been vaccinated against it.
For more info check out the CDC report from their MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) here.
Via: AP Medical Report here.
