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Justin Price and Flip Filippi hard at work at the General Assembly |
EDITOR’S NOTE: Charlestown’s state Representative
Blake “Flip” Filippi, state Senator Elaine Morgan and Richmond’s state Rep.
Justin Price all introduced anti-vaxxer legislation to make it easily for
parents to vaccinating their children against communicable diseases, including
cervical cancer. Fortunately, none of their bills passed. – W. Collette
An article published
by JAMA Pediatrics estimates the number of measles cases in
U.S. children and the associated economic costs under different scenarios of
vaccine hesitancy, which is the delay or refusal to vaccinate based on
non-medical personal beliefs.
Economic costs per
measles case came from published literature.
The authors estimate
that even a 5 percent decline in MMR vaccine coverage in the U.S. would result
in an estimated three-fold increase in national measles cases in children ages
2 to 11, for a total of 150 cases and an additional $2.1 million in public
sector costs.
Those estimates would
be higher if unvaccinated infants, adolescents and adult populations were also
considered. The size of outbreaks increased with declining vaccination
coverage, according to the results.
Study findings should
be considered within the limitations of the model assumptions and data.
"The results of
our study find substantial public health and economic consequences with even
minor reductions in MMR coverage due to vaccine hesitancy and directly confront
the notion that measles is no longer a threat in the United States. Removal of
the nonmedical personal belief exemptions for childhood vaccination may
mitigate these consequences. These findings should play a key role in any
policies adapted by state or national governments that relate to childhood
vaccination," the article concludes.
Journal Reference: Nathan C. Lo, Peter J. Hotez. Public
Health and Economic Consequences of Vaccine Hesitancy for Measles in the United
States. JAMA Pediatrics, 2017; DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.1695