Two deaths this week in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County have reinvigorated the growing partisan debate about how best to promote measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination, as has President Donald Trump’s August 10 executive order recommending that the vaccine be divided into three separate shots, one for each disease. On the one hand, the mainstream media position appears to be that all leaders should shout louder that the MMR shot is lifesaving, the childhood immunization schedule is perfect and cannot be improved, and that we need more mandates and coercion to vaccinate, not less. On the other, you have conservative voices stressing the need for autonomy and empowering parents to make the right choice for their kid.
I have five thoughts on this matter:
First, I am concerned that public health officials in Pennsylvania selectively released one fact only about the two individuals who died—that they were unvaccinated. We don’t know their ages, whether they come from the Amish or Mennonite communities, how long they had measles without seeking medical care, the nature and quality of the medical care they received, or whether they had chronic medical problems. All of these are needed to properly understand the context. Some claimed these details were withheld for reasons of privacy—but if that is the case, then why was the vaccination status made public?
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