Although the total number of infections nationwide may seem small, it bears noting that before the COVID pandemic, the annual number of measles infections across the US had been gaining momentum (1,274 cases documented in 2019). This underscores the salutary effect the efforts undertaken to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the first two years of the pandemic had on the spread of the highly contagious measles. In 2020, only 13 individuals developed measles across eight jurisdictions. In 2021, there were 49 measles infections and in 2022 a total of 121 measles cases, in large part due to a community outbreak in central Ohio, with 85 locally acquired measles cases. And in 2023, there were 58 across 20 jurisdictions. At the current pace, 2024 may be the largest measles outbreak experienced in the US during the COVID pandemic.
The current trends show the dangers posed by the government’s abdication of the responsibility to maintain an actively engaged public health infrastructure. This has led to the promotion of anti-scientific misinformation campaigns by reactionary and fascistic groups who are downplaying the dangers posed by respiratory infections, leading to a decline in childhood immunization and resurgence of disease, specifically measles.
Two points. First, I don’t disagree that the decline in childhood vaccinations is real. It is. It is measurable. However, we must realize why vaccination rates are down. For the better part of three years, the public health system in our nation flat our lied to us. They bullied us. They demonized us. They ridiculed us. They lied straight to our faces and then tried to put us in jail when we asked questions. Justifiably, they lost our trust and forced thinking people to question everything they say. If public health “experts” are looking for a cause for the decline in vaccination rates, they can look in the mirror.
Second, ignored in the news reports is the human wave of unvaccinated people flooding across our border. You cannot introduce millions – yes, MILLIONS – of unvaccinated, unwell people into our communities and not expect the diseases they carry to spread. What is the Mealses vaccination rate among the illegal alien population? I guarantee that it’s much, much lower than for legal immigrants and citizens.