As if we required more evidence that the anti-vaccine movement is a needless threat to public health, Washington is experiencing an outbreak of mumps.
According to the state Department of Health, as of Wednesday there were 235 active cases of mumps in the state (none have been reported in Clark County). That represents quite an uptick for a state that had a total of 46 cases in the previous four years. Other states also have reported mumps outbreaks, often occurring on college campuses and leading to a belief that childhood immunizations against the disease lose their effectiveness over time.
While there are many factors that contribute to the spread of infectious diseases, there is little doubt that a growing anti-vaxxer movement has exacerbated the problem. There also is little doubt that the movement is based upon absurdly fraudulent “science” and that its growth is indefensible.
So, with Washington facing an outbreak of mumps, allow us once again to point out the long-discredited thinking that led to concern about the perceived danger of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine. In 1998, a British doctor named Andrew Wakefield published a fabricated study suggesting that the vaccine can cause autism. It later was revealed that Wakefield was paid by lawyers who were seeking a foundation for lawsuits on behalf of autistic patients, and that Wakefield was seeking a patent for his own vaccine and had reason to discredit the MMR vaccine. His work has been discredited and he has been stripped of his medical license.
Meanwhile, separate studies by the Public Library of Science, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, the Danish Medical Research Center, and others all have found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
The fact that a charlatan such as Wakefield could have a negative impact on public health in this country is maddening, and the fact that President Trump has expressed concern about immunizations is downright dangerous.
Immunizations are essential to the health of our communities. Maintaining “herd immunity,” a level at which nearly everyone has been vaccinated, protects those who decline to receive a shot because of age, other health concerns, or religious objections. Falling below that immunity threshold threatens to return us to an era in which childhood diseases are simply accepted as a fact of life, an era that until recently seemed primitive and archaic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, before the nation’s mumps vaccination program began in 1967, more than 186,000 cases of the disease were reported in the United States each year. In 2012, thanks to the widespread use of vaccines, 229 cases were reported. Symptoms of mumps can include fever, muscle aches, puffy cheeks and a swollen jaw. In severe cases, the disease can cause inflammation of the brain or spine, deafness and sterility.
Combined with outbreaks in recent years of measles — which not long ago were thought to be eradicated in this country — and whooping cough, Washington’s mumps outbreak demonstrates that the state is falling prey to fraudulent science and irrational fear created by reports about fake studies. The result is an unnecessary threat to the health of the public, and it calls for education and a booster shot of common sense that can eradicate the anti-vaccine movement.
