Measles USA: When Immunology Is Just an Opinion

A Santa Monica nursery has closed, and 16 children have been quarantined. Schools are on alert and parent associations on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Unvaccinated employees at Disneyland are also on precautionary sick leave, the theme park having been identified as the epicenter of a mini epidemic of measles.

Measles was declared eliminated from America in 2000, but has resurfaced as a result of the rampant anti-vax movement: parents who refuse to vaccinate their children because of the widespread urban myth that childhood vaccines for infectious diseases cause all types of dangers – autism, in particular.

The phenomenon has taken shape as an ideological movement, just as it did for the vaccine against the human papilloma virus, which, because it protects against a venereal disease, was challenged by the right-wing theocon: They consider it a green light to liberalism. They, therefore, refuse to vaccinate high school kids, claiming abstinence is better – a popular argument also used against the use of condoms and to which the unspoken implication is “illness is the deterrent.”

The conspiracy surrounding measles, mumps, rubella, polio and other infectious diseases – widespread on social media and Internet groups – has been driven by some celebrities (such as Jim Carrey and his ex-wife Jenny McCarthy) in the afternoon talk show circles. This movement has grown to the extent that many states have adopted a “conscientious objection” clause for vaccinations, and many U.S. health and school districts today allow exemption for “personal belief.”

The “anti-vax” cause has been taken on by left-wing, new-age, hippy-chic, health freaks, as much as by the right-wing, anti-establishment tea party. The fact is, the number of unvaccinated children in some Californian schools is already over 50 percent. This has lead to a fresh outbreak of measles, and the experts are warning that other forgotten diseases could follow suit. It should be noted that many of the champions of “freedom of vaccination” are the same conservatives who, two months ago, were ready to seal off Africa’s borders, against the Ebola outbreak.

The epicenter of the current outbreak has been Disneyland, right in the middle of Republican Orange County, an outbreak that seems to have arisen from a belief in the inherent biological justice that is natural selection. In actual fact, lowering general immunity favors disease and is harmful for everyone. Legislation was proposed in the California state house today that would ban vaccination exemptions for all children.