Do you know anyone who’s ever had measles, mumps, or rubella? Those diseases have essentially been wiped out in the U.S. because of effective and widespread adoption of vaccines.
But that might be changing. Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that last year, there were more than 600 measles cases in the U.S., and that was more than there have been for a long time. "This year, there were 100 in January alone," he said.
And that’s not a good thing. Before vaccinations, children routinely died of measles and other diseases like polio, pertussis, and diphtheria, that are unheard of in this country today.
In 1920, over 7,000 children died of measles in America. That was less than 100 years ago.
Thousands still die from the disease worldwide each year. Are we taking vaccinations for granted?
This hour, the history and science behind vaccines. Experts tell us what we need to know, and answer your questions.
GUESTS:
- Dr. Jack Ross is the Director of Infectious Diseases for Hartford HealthCare
- Dr. Nicholas Bennett is the Medical Director of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology at Connecticut Children's Medical Center.
- Howard Markel is the Founding Director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and the Editor-in-Chief of The Millbank Quarterly. He is the author of most recently, "An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine"
Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
