A top New York lawmaker on Sunday said that the federal government should provide the citizens with free measles vaccine and booster shot in a bid to check the further spread of the recent outbreak of the contagious disease.
Sen. Chuck Schumer urged the federal health body, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to provide free shots against measles and other dangerous infections at schools as well as health clinics in order to contain the spread.
“We need to do everything possible to prevent the measles from spreading before it becomes endemic. Surprisingly, a significant number of people are not vaccinated,” Schumer said.
At least 102 confirmed cases of measles have been reported so far this year in 15 different American states, including New York.
Most of these reported cases of measles are linked to the outbreak that triggered from California’s Disneyland, where an infected person from outside the country had probably visited in December.
Last Thursday, five babies under one–year-old were diagnosed with measles at an Illinois day care center.
New York reported the case of a student, who had contracted measles during his visit to Germany, boarding an Amtrak train at Penn Station to go to Rhinebeck.
Schumer expressed concern over the rising cases of the dangerous disease, saying “Unfortunately, it appears like every day we hear of a new victim of measles.”
Measles is highly contagious disease. Some of its common symtoms include coughing, eye infection, fever, rashes, vomiting, ear infections. In some cases, it can even cause deafness and death.
It is noteworthy, the serious disease was practically eliminated in the US 12 years ago.
The disease is of more concerning the health experts as well as the lawmakers as the myths of the parents, which is based on their religious beliefs, are stopping them from getting their children vaccinated. Moreover, a debunked report that claimed the vaccination shots are linked to autism has also made the parents to opt the shots out.
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