- Measles deaths in Samoa.... Archived Message
Posted by John Monro
on December 3, 2019, 9:32 am
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....now number 55, with 18 critically infants. Each one a personal tragedy, each one entirely avoidable with a full MMR immunisation campaign. Immunisation rates in Samoa are very low, less than 50%, , so Samoa remains a fertile ground for this highly infectious illness. It is likely that this measles epidemic arose from an infected individual arriving from New Zealand where there has been a measles epidemic especially in Auckland with 1700 cases. You need to ensure an immunisation rate of 95% to prevent an epidemic occurring because of its high infectivity. Immunisation rates have fallen, as in many other countries due to unreasonable concern about the MMR vaccine as promoted by anti-vaccination forces and fellow miscreants. So whilst children are dying in Samoa at a horrifying rate due to poor public health and lack of encouragement of vaccination in that country, it was this so-called "advanced" country that actually seeded the outbreak where public health is good, but is fighting a battle against the forces of unreason. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/new-normal-how-a-more-robust-globalised-anti-vax-movement-targeted-samoa |