@TheConversationUS
Thank you RFK Jr.! /sarcasm
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases on Earth.
The good news: the 2-dose measles vaccine is 97% effective — and vastly safer than infection itself.
How to know if you’re protected (even if you were vaccinated decades ago) and what to do if you’re not: https://buff.ly/yHrHeVE
Measles isn’t just a childhood rash.
3 in 1,000 people who get the disease die.
The virus can also hide in the brain and reemerge years later as a fatal neurological disease called SSPE.
A virologist explains how measles can damage the immune system long after infection:
Modeling studies show where current vaccination rates could lead:
📈Up to 850,000 measles cases in the U.S. over 25 years — or millions more if rates fall further.
https://buff.ly/AUYtw3a
Game theory shows vaccine hesitancy isn’t just about ignorance or morality, but misaligned individual vs. collective incentives, where people who worry about vaccine safety can generally rely on herd immunity to protect their children. Until they can’t.
Countries across Europe and the Americas that had eliminated #measles have now seen it return, according to the World Health Organization, which keeps official records.
Ultimately it’s a symptom of something deeper: declining trust in science and public health. https://buff.ly/4GXVitW