Here is what happens when you people get your way. People get sick and some
die. Your foolhardy quackery will take us back to the days of mass plagues
and death tolls. Congratulations.



New York Times
February 8, 2003

As Vaccination Rates Decline in Ireland, Cases of Measles Soar
By BRIAN LAVERY


UBLIN, Feb. 7 ‹ When a British scientist published research five years ago
suggesting a link between autism and a common childhood measles vaccine, the
news caused a wave of fear among parents and a steep decline in vaccination
rates.

Subsequent studies debunked his findings, and British health authorities
worked hard to make sure that more than 90 percent of children 12 to 15
months old were vaccinated each year.

Prime Minister Tony Blair even turned the vaccination of his son into a news
media event.

Across the Irish Sea, however, public health officials blame latent fears
about the M.M.R. vaccine ‹ for measles, mumps and rubella ‹ for a measles
outbreak. The vaccination rate has fallen to 63 percent in parts of Dublin
and 72 percent nationally; the internationally accepted level for
controlling the disease is 95 percent.

Over six weeks in December and January, the National Disease Surveillance
Center recorded 100 cases of measles. It typically sees about 30. Its
director, Dr. Darina O'Flanagan, issued a national advisory and sought a
meeting with the government health minister to revise immunization
strategies. Now, two weeks later, 100 more cases have been recorded.

"I'm seriously worried," Dr. O'Flanagan said in a telephone interview.
Ireland has "topped the list" of European countries with measles outbreaks
in recent years, and "it's not an enviable position to be in," she said.

But some Irish doctors say low immunization levels here are a chronic
problem, citing overworked health workers and an outdated system that makes
it hard to track children who need vaccinations.

"It goes back generations; we've always had an appalling vaccination rate in
Ireland," said Dr. Maurice Gueret, a general practitioner in Dublin. The
widely publicized fear that the M.M.R. vaccine causes autism is "a
convenient way for the health authorities to let themselves off for the fact
that we're very, very bad about vaccinating our children," he said.

A measles epidemic last struck Ireland in 2000, when 1,603 children were
infected, 350 were hospitalized and 3 died. The disease has been all but
eliminated in the United States, where only a handful of cases are reported
each year, and those usually are sick people coming into the country.

Dr. O'Flanagan met with Micheal Martin, the health minister, on Thursday to
discuss the possible use of American and Australian strategies, like
mandatory immunizations for children before they can attend elementary
school, and increased welfare benefits for low-income families when their
children are vaccinated.

Officials called for increased education to overcome apathy and public
skepticism about official health services, said Dr. James Reilly, chairman
of the Irish Medical Organization's committee for general practitioners.
High-profile scandals, like one involving blood products contaminated with
H.I.V. and hepatitis C, have tarnished the health service's reputation in
recent years.

Another part of the problem is that Ireland's regional public health bodies
are large, unwieldy organizations that are also responsible for a range of
social services that deflect resources from purely medical issues like
immunizations. Vaccination records are largely kept on paper, and regions
with computerized systems are incompatible with one another, making it
difficult to follow unvaccinated children when their families move.