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For the first time since 2011, the State of Iowa has a reported case of measles, which brings up the importance of vaccinations.
The recent case was in northeastern Iowa, though measles is an aggressively contagious disease that can spread rapidly among those that are unvaccinated. The Iowa Department of Public Health says this particular individual was unvaccinated, and local officials are following up with potentially exposed people to ensure the disease won’t spread. Retired former Dallas County Public Health Program Director Lisa Anderson emphasizes that measles and many other diseases are completely preventable, and their return is evidence that many people are not doing their civic duty by getting vaccinated.
Anderson says even more than protecting themselves, individuals need to keep their vaccines up-to-date in order to protect those around them. “We do have people in the community, for medical reasons, that cannot receive a vaccine. And it’s important for public health, we can protect those people by what we call ‘herd immunity,’ where everyone else is vaccinated and we protect that one person who can’t get the vaccine by getting it ourselves. So if you can be vaccinated, it’s extremely important to get vaccinated to protect everyone.”
Anderson also points out that in the early 1900’s, before vaccines were commonplace, millions of children died from the diseases that are now preventable. Even those that survived suffered from brain injury, paralysis, disfiguration, and other lifelong problems. As a reminder, children attending public school in Iowa are required to have up-to-date vaccinations, including hepatitis-b, polio, measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (TDAP), and others.
For more information on vaccines, click the link below to visit the Centers for Disease Control website.