A ninth case of the measles has been confirmed by Minnesota’s Department of Health and more are expected, as an outbreak of the disease has come up again.
State health officials say all of the cases are in unvaccinated kids ages 1-4. Eight of the confirmed cases involve Somali-Minnesotan children.
According to Minnesota’s Star Tribune, the outbreak seems to be the result of an incredibly low vaccination rate in the Somali-American communities in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul areas. This is expected to be the largest outbreak of the terrible disease since 2011, when a similar situation occurred, the director of the infectious disease division of the Minnesota Health Department Kris Ehresmann told the Tribune.
Ehresmann said the latest estimates show that only 42 percent of 2-year old Somali-American children had received their first MMR shot, which most health experts recommend at age 1. A second shot is administered when a child enters kindergarten, and produces highly effective immunity. Statewide, the vaccination rate is 88.5 percent.
Low vaccination rates were a factor in a 2011 measles outbreak, including many Somali-American children. At the time, an anti-vaccine advocate was telling community members that the MMR vaccine caused autism — a view that has been discredited by extensive scientific research.
“A lot of the anti-vaccine groups targeted the Somali community,” Ehresmann said.
This is one of the many reasons that unpopular President Trump’s choice of debunked autism-vaccination science followers to lead “investigations” into public health is absolutely dangerous to the lives of children.