A measles outbreak in Texas is shining renewed light on the anti-vaccination movement. That outbreak is sickened 48 children, leaving 13 of them in hospitals. Now, with Louisiana state officials rolling back vaccination campaigns, public health experts warn that what happened in Texas could certainly happen in Louisiana.
"They have saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives and reduced disease burdens in far more people than that because of their protective effects," Dr. Susan Hassig, associate professor in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, said about vaccines. "We have demonstrated proof of how useful vaccines--individually and collectively--have been for us in the almost 75 years since they first emerged in a big way."
Dr. Hassig says that although data show just how useful vaccines have been over the last 75 years, misinformation spread on social media and cable news is causing people to abandon vaccines, putting themselves and their children at risk.
"It's been an ongoing battle, and it's only gotten worse in the last 20 years," Dr. Hassig said. "We've learned that it's far better to prevent conditions than to try to treat them with very expensive pharmaceuticals and medical intervention processes and strategies."
By eliminating mass vaccination events across the state, Dr. Hassig says the Louisiana Department of Health is neglecting its responsibility to keep the public safe. That decision, she says, could lead to outbreaks of the measles (a disease declared eliminated from the United States in 2000) and other infectious diseases in vulnerable communities across the state.
"Not everyone has a primary care physician," Dr. Hassig said. "Not everyone has a regular care provider. Not everyone has healthcare insurance that makes those vaccines readily available to them."
Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Lee Abraham says the goal of the LDH's new edict is to put a patient's care back into his and his doctor's hands. However, Dr. Hassig says Dr. Abraham is missing the mark.
"You have to recognize that a clinician that Dr. Abraham was trained didn't get a lot of public health incorporated into their training," Hassig said.
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