Parents refusing to have their children vaccinated against measles have helped drive cases of the illness to their worst levels in a dozen years in the United States, health officials reported on Thursday.
Only 13 percent of the cases were imported, the CDC said, naming Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, India, Israel, China, Germany, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Russia. “This is the lowest percentage of imported measles cases since 1996,” the CDC report reads.
“Of the 95 patients eligible for vaccination, 63 were unvaccinated because of their or their parents’ philosophical or religious beliefs,” the CDC said.
Some religious groups refuse vaccination but many parents have fears that vaccines are unsafe or may cause conditions such as autism — fears the CDC says are unfounded.
Stop being asshats. This is the 21st century, not the dark ages. Vaccines do not cause autism and God would prefer it if your kids didn’t die from measles.
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