Decrease in MMR Vaccinations-Risk of measles outbreak!!

SAN DIEGO, Oct 9th 2015: According to recent studies by Emory University there could be potential rise in measles outbreak in the United States as there is significant decrease in national MMR vaccinations’ rate slip below optimum levels.

Decrease in MMR Vaccinations-Risk of measles outbreak!!

“Researchers in the new study, presented at the annual conference of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, found that one in eight children — nearly 9 million — is at risk of contracting measles because of gaps in vaccination”.

MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine is give as a part of immunization to the children in two doses, one at the age of 12-15 months and the booster dose at the age 4-6 years.

Number of children who didn’t get immunized increased in the recent times as the parents are worried about the quality and safety issues.

“Right now we have a little bit of a buffer,” Robert Bednarczyk an assistant professor at Emory University, told the Boston Globe. “But it’s just that: a little bit of a buffer. If we do start to see immunization levels dip down a little bit and we see those dips sustained, we could start to lose that overall population level immunity. And if measles get introduced, we may start seeing larger and more severe outbreaks.”

Based on the survey 12.5 percent of all children have not received it, 24.7 percent of children age 3 or younger have not been fully protected against measles, and 4.6 percent of 17-year-old children have not received any doses of MMR vaccine.

“We know some parents have concerns about vaccines and may want to avoid or delay vaccination, or follow an alternative schedule than the one recommended because they are concerned about the safety of the vaccine,” Bednarczyk said in a press release. “In fact, the vaccine is very safe, while not vaccinating is highly risky, leaving their children — and others — vulnerable to a serious illness that can cause a large number of complications. Currently, these children are protected because of the high vaccine coverage of the population, but that will change if we begin having more outbreaks and the percentage of children vaccinated declines.”