CDC warns of rising strep throat infections among children - PBS NewsHour

Dr. Peter Hotez:

Yes, that's right.

Typically, we give the first measles vaccinations called MMR, measles, mumps, rubella, vaccine, towards the end of the first year of life. My understanding is, of the 80 plus cases, about more than 70, 75 have been unvaccinated.

So this is, in many respects, a self-inflicted wound, that a lot of these cases or all of these cases could have been prevented had those kids receive their routine MMR vaccination. So, what I'm really worried about, Geoff, is, this is spillover from all the anti-vaccine activism we saw really take off around COVID-19 vaccines for adults.

Remember, the numbers are horrific. An estimated 200,000 Americans needlessly lost their lives because they refused the COVID vaccine, even after vaccines became widely available, and it's happening because of a rise in what I call the anti-vaccine, anti-science aggression coming from activists.

And now I think they're going to try to target all childhood immunizations. Measles is a deadly illness. In the year 2000, half-a-million kids — 500,000 kids died annually from measles. And now that number, we have brought down below 100,000. I'm worried about a reversal of that, not only in the United States, but globally.

And it's just a reminder that measles is nothing to trifle with. It is a serious illness and is one of the leading causes of death for kids under the age of 5.