Measles, once on the brink of eradication, has resurged, exacerbated by the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic interfering with routine vaccination programs.
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The resurgence of measles and whooping cough is troubling. The most effective way to prevent the return and spread of vaccine-preventable diseases is through vaccination and combating vaccine hesitancy.
Gaps in coverage of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles are having significant impacts on global public health.
(AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Adam R Houston, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa and Jason Nickerson, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Any upsurge in measles is of real concern, but in settings aggravated by poor living conditions and malnutrition, it can be disastrous. It can affect adults, but young children are at particular risk.
Adult MMR jabs could play an important role in preventing measles outbreaks.
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You no longer have to go to your GP to get your flu shot or catch up on vaccinations you missed earlier in life or have waning immunity to. But they’re unlikely to be free.
Steve Sierzega receives a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at the Rockland County Health Department in Pomona, N.Y., Wednesday, March 27, 2019.
Seth Wenig/AP Photo
A sign at a clinic in Vancouver, Washington on Jan. 25, 2019 asks unvaccinated children 12 and younger to leave the facility.
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A measles outbreak is causing major concern in a Washington county where only 22 percent of children are vaccinated against the disease. A vaccine expert explains the risks.
Rubella has been eliminated in Australia, but it still exists in other countries.
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Thanks to successful vaccination programs, Australia has just been declared free of rubella. Continued vigilance is important to make sure it doesn’t come back.
Cases of measles are on the rise as a cohort of unvaccinated children grows up.
In this 2012 photo, a midwife holds a newborn baby boy she has just delivered by flashlight in Guinea-Bissau. The African country is one of the deadliest places in the world to give birth, with a high rate of maternal death.
(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
It’s not just women in impoverished countries dying in childbirth. The maternal death rate in both Canada and the U.S. has risen, particularly among Indigenous and African-American women.
A polio patient in an iron lung, 1940.
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Many women in African countries who are medically required to have caesarean sections aren’t able to access them due to weak health systems and a lack of resources.
For some parents, the decision to vaccinate requires more than just objective evidence.
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Whilst most parents do vaccinate, health professionals often find it difficult to talk with those who are hesitant or decline. A new resource provides information and communication support.
Honorary Professor Faculty of Health and Medical Science, Univeristy of Sydney; Senior Researcher Sydney Institue for Infectious Disease, University of Sydney., University of Sydney