A Preventable Public Health Crisis

This Year's Rising Measles Case Numbers in the United States

The number of measles cases in the United States across 27 outbreaks has now topped 1260 setting the nation up for losing its WHO classification as a country that has eliminated measles. In 2019 we had a measles outbreak in some New York communities that had stopped vaccinating their children. I was New York State’s Health Commissioner at the time, and here’s what we did to snuff it out:

We followed the science, worked closely with the communities affected, pushed back aggressively on misinformation. Wasn’t easy, but we got it done and saved lives. Nick Paumgarten documented our crisis campaign in the compelling New Yorker piece, The Message of Measles published September 2, 2019. It captured the stark truth of what happens when we abandon facts and allow confusion to replace clarity: people die.

And now we have a health secretary who attacks science, disparages scientists, and sows doubt about vaccines. We don’t re-argue whether the Earth is round. Or that it revolves around the Sun. We don’t doubt that gravity exists. Likewise, it’s settled science that vaccines work, they save lives, and they prevent diseases like measles from spreading.

We have the knowledge, the will and the skills. We only need the leadership to use them to stop the terrifying measles case numbers from rising. Oh, another scientifically proven fact – water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. The political temperature keeps rising and the nation is at a boiling point when it comes to misinformation about measles, and other proven public health facts!