Infants cannot receive the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella until their first birthday, making them especially vulnerable to an outbreak. The World Health Organization just named vaccine hesitancy as one of its top 10 global health threats to address this year — alongside ebola, dengue fever and HIV. And, although health experts are reluctant to draw lines between specific outbreaks and vaccine hesitancy, there’s no question it’s a big factor in the global resurgence of measles. “The measles outbreak in Washington, and also internationally, certainly highlights how serious these diseases can be,” says Dr. Betty Gerstein, a family practitioner and Fellow of the Canadian College of Family Physicians. Well, unfortunately, vaccine-hesitant parents, in a genuine effort to be informed and protect their children’s health, almost always turn to the internet first for information.

Source: thestar February 17, 2019 04:52 UTC