On April 29, 2019, a nurse stated in Provo, Utah, an MMR vaccine in the Ministry of Health in Utah County. 97% of the vaccine is effective against measles when two doses are administered. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
Washington – the Americans are always unsure of what they should believe over measles as an outbreak in the whole country.
The Opinion poll shows that almost a quarter of the popular belief that a generally repeated false claim that a child vaccinated against measles could lead to autism. About the same percentage of the respondents believe that it is either definitely or probably true that vitamin A can prevent someone from developing measles, although this cannot.
And 19% of those surveyed believed that the vaccine against measles was more risky than processing the virus.
Parents who believed that at least one of the three wrong claims had rather delayed or skipped some vaccinations for their children. Almost a quarter of 24% of the respondents said that they could not protect their children by vaccination, more than twice the 11% of the parents who replied that all three false statements about measles were definitely or probably untrue.
Persistent outbreak
The centers for the control and prevention of diseases report that there are more than 800 measles diagnoses in at least 25 states at the end of last week.
The infections are distributed in different age groups with 31% of cases in children under the age of five, 38% of the diagnoses in patients between five and 19 years, 29% in people over the age of 20 and 2% in humans with an unknown age.
85 patients were hospitalized and three died. Almost all confirmed cases, 96%, are in people who have not received the MMR vaccine or are not sure, such as the vaccination status, according to the CDC.
The states with confirmed cases include Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont Washington.
Virginia reported on his first case This year over the weekend, although this is not yet contained on the CDCs Website about the ongoing outbreak.
Understanding in connection with concern
KFF’s survey shows that, although there are many people who believe, untrue claims about measles or the MMR vaccine – which protects against measles, mumps and rubella – higher percentages of people who understand basic facts about the virus and who are concerned about the ongoing outbreak.
75 percent of the respondents stated that it was wrong that the MMR vaccine leads to autism. 81% replied that it was wrong to say that the vaccine is more risky than the virus contract and 75% indicated that it was wrong that vitamin A can prevent someone from getting measles.
About half or 51%of those surveyed stated that they were at least a little concerned about the spread of measles. This concern was the highest among Hispanic adults, 62%and black adults.
Most people surveyed, 56%, knew that the spread of measles this year was higher than in previous years, although this number was different between people from different political inclinations.
Seventy percent of the Democrats knew that the diagnoses of measles had spanned in the past few months, compared to 54% of the independent and 49% of Republicans.
Between 8 and April 15, KFF carried the survey of 1,380 adults by phone and online.
