Measles: A New Epidemic Sweeping the Planet

by Sophie Mitchell

There is a major epidemic sweeping the planet. The phrase itself conjures up ideas of Malaria, Ebola, Zika, diseases that kill millions of people and hold a prevalent place in everyday media. But this isn’t what I’m talking about, I’m talking about measles.

In the past, measles would kill millions of people a year. However, this all changed when a routine vaccination programme was implemented by the government in the 1960s. In 2016, the World Health Organisation confirmed that the UK had eliminated the disease in 2016, but with the prevalence of anti-vaxxer propaganda on the rise, less and less people are getting vaccinated, and more and more people are dying. In 2016, there were more than 500 measles cases in England, many in teenagers and young people attending summer festivals who'd missed out on their MMR vaccine in childhood.

The idea stems from Andrew Wakefield, a now struck-off doctor. In 1998, Wakefield published the Lancet Paper, which claimed to link the MMR vaccine to autism. It was characterised as “perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the 20th century” and its effects are still being shown today. Its publication led to a sharp decrease in vaccination rates in both the UK and Ireland. Reviews of the evidence by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Paediatrics, the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academy of Sciences, the UK National Health Service, and the Cochrane Library all found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism, yet the damage was done. British journalist Brian Deer found that Wakefield had multiple undeclared ‘conflict of interests’, leading to him manipulating evidence and breaking ethical codes to put a false idea across.

Across many western countries, the belief that vaccines are full of toxins and poisons that cause conditions like autism is still rife. So much so in America that on April 9th, New York declared a measles emergency. This meant that unvaccinated children were barred from public places, with fines and prison time given as threats for anybody found breaking the rule. Unvaccinated people in affected areas had to be vaccinated within 48 hours, and babies under 6 months old had to report to doctor’s offices with proof of immunisation. If people continued to disagree, court orders were said to be a possibility, forcing babies and vulnerable children under the age of 16 to be vaccinated with, or without their parents’ permission.

Not only has this been brought up in politics, but has had a profound effect on social media and influencers. In June 2018, makeup mogul Kat Von D claimed she wasn’t going to vaccinate her new baby, which caused massive controversy amongst her loyal followers. This led to people boycotting the brand, and huge losses for Kat. It stirred the controversial pot, so to speak, and followed the controversial law passed by Californian state officials which stated that restriction of non-medical exemptions for children entering private or public schools without immunisation, thus resulting in many children being home-schooled and having incomplete educations.

Vaccines work by injecting small amounts of inactive or ‘broken up’ parts of the viruses into the bloodstream. This simulates the body to produce antibodies, which are then stored as memory cells. This means that upon the actual virus entering the body, the body’s immune system can coordinate a quick response to stop the disease from escalating. It has been proven that they cause no harm to the body and actually aid people, even those who are not vulnerable.

I went to a talk by Dr Ben Goldacre, a talk based on how results are manipulated for the public. It began by talking about the MMR scandal with Dr Wakefield, with a very convincing graph being shown about autism against vaccine rates, both showing a positive correlation. Dr Goldarce used it as an example of how stats are manipulated to portray the desires of the person, rather than the actual proof. He went on to talk about a study, which proved that by having the vaccine, autism rates were decreased (this was a small study and therefore the results could not be viewed as statically significant). However, this got everyone thinking. He then proceeded to show a few different graphs, all with bizarre correlations. For example, take the graph at the top of this page, you can clearly see a correlation between the number of films Nicholas Cage has been in and the number of people who drowned in a swimming pool. Does that mean Nicholas Cage is basically responsible for people drowning? Of course not. Another graph shown was of organic food sales vs autism rates, both of which again showed a correlation. I think it's safe to say it struck all of us as to how misleading the media can be.

To conclude, if there is anything you take from this article if you actually read it, is please get your future mini-me vaccinated, rather than contribute to the growing epidemic that is sweeping the world.