08/05/2021
We know how exhausting, maddening, and anxiety-inducing it is to continue to deal with the pandemic.
Honestly, it sometimes feels surreal that we are living through a modern-day plague. Many of us thought things were getting better and were hopeful there was a light at the end of the tunnel—then Delta showed up.
Here’s the thing: this does NOT have to go on forever. It will end, we promise. We are so fortunate to live in a time when science and medicine allow us to prevent this virus from making us critically ill. Science will get us through this. Don’t believe us? Let’s revisit measles.
Per the CDC: Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90% of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected. Before vaccines were available, nearly all children got measles by the time they were 15 years old. It is estimated 3 to 4 million people in the U.S. were infected each year; an estimated 400 to 500 people died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 1,000 suffered encephalitis (swelling of the brain) from measles. Widespread use of the measles vaccine drastically reduced the disease rates. By 1981, the number of reported measles cases was 80% less compared with the previous year. A 1989 measles outbreak among vaccinated school-aged children prompted the recommendation of a second dose of MMR vaccine for all children.
Following widespread implementation of this recommendation and further improvements in first-dose MMR vaccine coverage, reported measles cases declined even more.
Measles was declared ELIMINATED (absence of continuous disease transmission for greater than 12 months) from the US in 2000. This was thanks to a highly effective vaccination program in the US, as well as better measles control in the Americas region. We now only see pockets of measles outbreaks among the unvaccinated.
Moral of the story? We can (and will) get through this thanks to vaccines. Until we get enough of our population vaccinated, we have to continue to wear masks and practice social distancing to prevent further mutations. Have hope—this will end!
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Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/history.html
https://www.statista.com/statistics/385577/mmr-vaccination-rate-among-us-children-aged-19-35-months/
https://www.cdc.gov/measles/transmission.html #:~:text=Measles%20is%20so%20contagious%20that,days%20after%20the%20rash%20appears.
