How many more children must die because of misinformation and downright lies about childhood vaccinations? The flu has resulted in 216 childhood deaths across the country so far this year, the highest number in 15 years due to the failure of many parents to get their children the flu shot.
National data shows the percentage of children getting vaccinated for the flu has fallen from 64% to 49% in the past five years. I have had college-educated people tell me they do not get vaccinated because they got the flu from the flu shot. That is scientifically impossible. They had the flu before they got the shot. Also, just as with the COVID vaccine, you may still get the flu after the flu shot but with dramatically less severe symptoms.
The worst measles outbreak in 30 years across the country has resulted in over 900 cases, 650 in Texas alone, with three deaths and serious illness among highly contagious children. The reason is, there are parents who believe the measles vaccine is more dangerous than the measles. Most children are not vaccinated based on the false belief that the measles vaccine causes autism.
The original link between autism and the measles vaccine was the most discredited "study" in the history of public health. (See, To Be or Not to Be Vaccinated, ITL, April 28, 2015.) In fact, international health officials called the supposed link to the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine "the most dangerous public health hoax in the past 100 years."
The original researcher was found to have serious conflicts of interest, including accepting money from attorneys involved in lawsuits against vaccine manufactures, manipulating evidence and breaking ethical codes of conduct. Yet this outright lie lives on.
The measles is so dangerous that a single person can spread the disease to between 11 and 18 people, and an unvaccinated person has a 90% chance of infection. The real danger is that parents who don't get their children vaccinated put other people at risk, such as infants less than a year old and children and adults with weak immune systems.
There is also now a surge in whooping cough cases in the country. There are over 8,000 reported cases already, more than double the number in 2024. Whooping cough or pertussis is a very dangerous disease and can spread rapidly, especially for infants one to two years old. Infants are too young to have had all their shots. Whooping cough begins as a common cold and can progress to violent coughing that can be fatal. There were two infant deaths reported in Louisiana in the last six months.
We need a national public health campaign for parents who need to get their children vaccinated for the flu, the measles and other childhood vaccinations.
All these childhood deaths this year due to the measles, the flu and whooping cough were 99% preventable. It is heart-breaking that in today's social media and political environment public health officials feel they are under attack by people spreading false information and downright lies about the safety and protection provided by childhood vaccinations.
(I would like to dedicate this article to my niece Chandler, co-author of the original ITL article, "To Be or Not to Be (Vaccinated)" 4/28/15. She is now Chandler Berke, MD, and about to embark as a resident for the next seven years at Ohio State University's Wexner Neurosurgical program.)
