What do most people do when things aren’t working?
That’s right, they try something different!
“The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not fundamentally change its response to measles outbreaks even if the US loses its measles elimination status this month, CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz told Reuters on Tuesday.”
CDC chief says agency will not change measles response if US loses elimination status
Unfortunately, that’s not how they do things at RFK, Jr’s CDC these days.
CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz Doubles Down on RFK, Jr’s Measles Strategy
Instead, it will be business as usual after we lose our measles elimination status next week.
That’s when we will get the final report from the regular annual meeting of the Regional Monitoring and Reverification Commission for the Elimination of Measles, Rubella and Congenital Rubella Syndrome that is being held this week.
A report, which if it confirms that we have lost our measles elimination status, should trigger:
A national measles elimination recovery plan, with a goal of stopping every continuing transmission chain and regaining elimination.
Targeted vaccination campaigns. We should identify counties, schools and communities with low MMR coverage and bring vaccination directly to them through mobile clinics, schools, community health centers and trusted local organizations. There are too many large clusters of susceptible people.
Catch-up vaccination plans for older children and adults.
Intensive work in the communities sustaining outbreaks.
Much faster case detection and outbreak control.
Better genomic surveillance.
Better vaccination records. We should expand electronic immunization registries to make it easier to find geographic and demographic pockets of susceptibility before they generate outbreaks.
Dedicated federal funding and personnel for outbreak response. Local health departments shouldn’t have to divert staff from other programs for months every time a large outbreak occurs.
Transparent weekly reporting: cases, hospitalizations, deaths, vaccination status, outbreaks, geographic transmission chains, MMR coverage and progress toward closing each outbreak.
What else?
We need to combat misinformation and reassure people that vaccines are safe, with few risks, and are very necessary.
To do that, we should:
Launch a nationwide measles education campaign. Explain measles complications, including pneumonia, encephalitis and SSPE, and clearly communicate the benefits and known risks of MMR vaccination.
Teach people to become more skeptical and to recognize misinformation before encountering it. This technique, called prebunking, helps audiences recognize misleading statistics, false causal claims, emotional manipulation and distorted scientific studies.
Respond directly to influential misinformation. When prominent figures make demonstrably false claims about measles or MMR vaccines, public-health agencies should address those claims promptly, regardless of the speaker's political affiliation or position.
Of course, doing any of that will be hard when the CDC director doesn’t even seem to understand why we are experiencing the measles outbreaks.
Schwartz pointed to “closely knit communities” as the primary source of US measles infection. Several outbreaks have originated among religious groups where vaccination rates are lower than in the general population, including the Amish in Pennsylvania.
“These communities typically don’t vaccinate their children. … Their families were making decisions about the MMR vaccine 20 to 30 years ago, and we’re just now seeing the results of those decisions,” Schwartz said. “The real focus is why are we not leaning in on these close-knit communities to make sure that they understand that the number one way of preventing measles is the MMR vaccine.”
CDC chief says agency will not change measles response if US loses elimination status
After all, the real problem isn’t that the Amish weren’t getting vaccinated, but rather that the Amish can no longer free-ride on herd immunity levels of protection because so many other people stopped getting vaccinated.
Or maybe the problem is that Secretary RFK, Jr has previously called for a return of natural measles…
Whatever the case, one thing is clear, without major changes, you can be sure that we will be seeing more measles cases and more measles deaths.