Measles used to be a fairly common childhood disease; however, vaccines almost completely eradicated the disease. While the vaccine can prevent measles with almost 100% reliability, not every country has access to the vaccine or health care facilities that can immunize citizens. While some might believe that measles is merely an annoying virus that quickly goes away, the fact is that it can be fatal. In 2016 the death toll from measles fell to below 100,000. That figure represents an 84% drop in measles mortality compared to the number of deaths in 2000.
In September of 2017, the United Kingdom was deemed "measles free" for the first time, due to vaccination rates. However just this week, NHS officials were warning citizens of an outbreak, so the issue is real. In the United States, some communities have seen a resurgence in measles outbreaks that, at least in part, is due to anti-vaccination information and the association between autism rates and the measles vaccine. There is no proof that the vaccines cause autism, but fear caused many parents to choose not to vaccinate. In Minnesota, there was a large outbreak of measles that experts say was related, in part to anti-vaccination campaigns.
