VOA常速英语:美国卫生部辟谣：麻疹疫苗无毒无害且免费

Measles kills about 100,000 people a year worldwide. The viral disease is easily preventable by vaccine, but in recent years, opponents of the vaccination have spread misinformation about the vaccine. The so-called anti-vaxxers, once considered fringe, have used Facebook and other social media to convince parents that vaccines cause autism and other problems for children. Sister of mine told me her friends had problems, difficulties. They actually told me story that one of their child was very, very what’s it called, he was responding normally, but once he got the vaccines he did not respond normally.
New York City accounts for more than half of all US measles cases that occurred in the past year. New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio declared measles a public health emergency last week and ordered mandatory vaccinations for parts of the city with a penalty of up to 1000 for failure to comply. But an ultra-orthodox Jewish group filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the order.

Health officials are tasked with containing the virus as well as the spread of misinformation. We need the religious leaders, we need the community leaders to kinda convince those people that they needed to protect not only their children, but they have a responsibility to the community and to society to help protect the community by developing the umbrella as I said of herd of immunity. Measles are highly infectious disease and can lead to a long-term consequences if not treated.
One in 10 children with measles gets an ear infection. One in 20 develops pneumonia and one in 1000 brain swelling. Some cases it is deadly. The good news is that measles is preventable. There is a highly effective vaccine that works and it’s been used time and time again to stop outbreaks, and the Health Department is able to provide the MMR vaccine to anyone who needs it free of charge. There are also large outbreaks of measles in Europe and Israel as well as in some countries in South America, Africa and Asia. People traveling to those countries should make sure that they have been vaccinated.
Zlatica Hoke, VOA News, Washington.