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"All regions of the world showed an increase in measles bar the Americas, which saw a minor decline - although the US registered its highest number of cases in
by Covzire 7y ago
"All regions of the world showed an increase in measles bar the Americas, which saw a minor decline - although the US registered its highest number of cases in 25 years."
This surprised me, I thought the US was the epicenter of the anti-vax movement? Or is it just how things appear because of the constant news topics?
- stevesimmons 7y ago"'The Americas' is lower, USA is higher" is perfectly consistent with the US being the epicenter of the anti-vax movement, no?
- Covzire 7y agoAh that makes sense.
- lxwang 7y agoIt surprised me too, and it's unclear what their basis is for saying this. This WHO page [1] on measles statistics claims a 60% increase for the Americas. Maybe the BBC interpreted a <100% increase as a decrease, or maybe I'm misinterpreting it, since I don't see the raw numbers. 1: https://www.who.int/immunization/newsroom/measles-data-2019/en/ https://www.who.int/immunization/newsroom/measles-data-2019/...
- jfengel 7y agoConceivably "the Americas" could mean "the western hemisphere minus the US". It's an awkward way to put it, but it's an awkward concept.
- Freak_NL 7y agoThe US is the epicentre of the disinformation movement surrounding vaccinations, but like any effective virus (hah, there's some irony), it spread. You will find that most anti-vaxxer rhetoric in other countries closely mimics the US material. Medical professionals are effectively pitched in a fierce battle against a very successful meme.
- dx87 7y agoIt's just a perception because of what is shown on the news. The "vaccines cause autism" idea was first started by a UK doctor.