Tag: MMR vaccine

Measles Outbreaks in New Zealand

Just like other areas of the world, New Zealand has a problem with measles outbreaks. It shouldn’t be surprising then that they also have a problem with folks pushing anti-vax misinformation.

Where are the areas in New Zealand with 97% MMR vaccination rates?
Where are the areas in New Zealand with 97% MMR vaccination rates? Just askin…

Are they really seeing the most measles cases in the areas with the highest vaccination rates?

Measles Outbreaks in New Zealand

One thing is sure, there are a lot of measles cases in New Zealand.

“From 1 January 2019 to 10 October 2019 there have been 1742 confirmed cases of measles notified across New Zealand. 1416 of these confirmed cases are in the Auckland region.”

2019 NZ measles outbreak information

Do we know which parts of New Zealand have the most measles outbreaks?

We do!

Where are the cases in the measles outbreaks in New Zealand?
The case count is now up to 1742…

Of course, this doesn’t really tell you anything about why some districts have more cases than others…

Is it because they have more unvaccinated people or simply because they have a lot more people?

Many of the measles cases in New Zealand are in infants too young to be vaccinated and in teens and young adults.
Many of the measles cases in New Zealand are in infants too young to be vaccinated and in teens and young adults.

Wherever they live, we know that like measles outbreaks in every other part of the world, few of the folks with measles in New Zealand are known to be fully vaccinated.

And while New Zealand had eliminated home grown-cases of measles just a few years ago, it wasn’t with vaccination rates of 97%.

“For immunisation from measles, rubella and mumps two doses of the vaccine called MMR are needed. Dr McElnay said among New Zealand’s children and infants, 95 percent had had the first dose and 90 percent the full vaccine.”

NZ eliminates NZ-origin measles

Unfortunately, while they were working to get younger kids vaccinated and protected, many older kids and adults are still not vaccinated.

“However, we must remain vigilant and improve our vaccination rates because these diseases can easily spread among unimmunised people from imported cases. In New Zealand, people aged 12 to 32 years have lower vaccination rates than young children so are less likely to be protected against these diseases.”

Measles and rubella officially eliminated in New Zealand

Only about 80% of teens and young adults are fully vaccinated against measles in New Zealand!

Combined with high numbers of folks who were never vaccinated and folks who travel to other parts of the world where measles is still endemic and you have a recipe for disaster.

“While there have been no measles deaths in this outbreak, there have been five pregnant women hospitalised and two fetal losses associated with these events.”

Report investigates high hospitalisation rates for measles in Auckland region

In addition to the two unborn babies who died, there are also reports of at least three hospitalisations for encephalitis.

Two doses of the MMR vaccine is your best protection against measles.

A disaster that could easily be prevented with two doses of a vaccine that is safe, with few risks, and obviously necessary.

More on Measles in New Zealand

Is the CDC Hiding MMR Excipients?

Have you heard the latest conspiracy theory – that the CDC is hiding MMR excipients? Depending on who you are supposed to believe, “they” recently removed either WI-38 or MRC-5 DNA and Cellular Protein from the MMR II excipient list.

I wonder why Ashley Everly and Hillary Simpson didn’t look at the 2012 list of excipients and ingredients…

Is it true?

Is there a conspiracy at CDC to hide vaccine ingredients?

Is the CDC Hiding MMR Excipients?

Of course not!

Where were the WI-38 cells in the 2007 excipient list?

As most folks should know by now, it is hard to change and hide stuff on the Internet, as nearly all pages are archived.

What does that mean?

You can easily look up and see how a page looked yesterday, last week, last month, or last year. Or in the case of the CDC Vaccine Excipient and Media list, over 12 years ago!

And guess what?

MRC-5 cells were never on the MMR list because the MMR vaccine isn’t made with MRC-5 cells!

The MMR vaccine is made with chick embryo fibroblasts and WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts, but since neither remain in the final vaccine, they aren’t on the latest excipient list. They can still be found in vaccine’s package insert.

Substances used in the manufacture of a vaccine but not actually listed as contained in the final vaccine can be found in the package insert for the vaccine, but are no longer shown on the excipient table.

This change to the excipient list was made in 2019.

Why the change?

Probably because this more accurately reflects what’s in the vaccine! Remember, many of the things that are used to make a vaccine get filtered out along the way.

Interestingly, while chick embryo fibroblasts were on the original excipient list, in 2007, WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts weren’t.

From 2012 to 2019, the excipient list did include substances that were removed from the final vaccine.

They were briefly added, but then both were removed with the change to the excipient list in 2019.

And that’s why anti-vax folks think that there is some conspiracy to hide them.

A conspiracy to hide these excipients that explains that why excipients are not included on the list and not only tells you where to find them, in the vaccine’s package insert, but also includes a link to find them?

The vaccine package insert still lists excipients that might not remain the final vaccine and aren’t on the excipient list.

Have anti-vax folks run out of things to be scared of?

Still think that there is a conspiracy to hide excipients?

Consider that the Vaccine excipient table at the Institute of Vaccine Safety, maintained since 2006, has never listed WI-38 cells…

More on Anti-Vax Conspiracy Theories

The Myth That Measles Never Left

Measles cases are on the rise. Where? Pretty much everywhere. But some folks are still pushing the myth that measles never left.

The highest number of measles cases in over 25 years? Don't call it a comeback?
Don’t call it a comeback? Cases in the US average 283 cases per year over the past 12 years (if you don’t skip 2019…)

It is easy to see that measles myth, like most AV myths, isn’t true.

The Myth That Measles Never Left

In the pre-vaccine era, everyone would get measles.

That translates into about 500,000 reported cases each year. Technically, it was likely closer to about 4 million cases in the United States each year, but either way, we know that lots of people got measles.

Then we got a measles vaccine and not surprisingly, cases of measles dropped. Except for a small uptick from 1989 to 1991, we were on our way to eliminating measles.

And we did, in 2000, when the endemic spread of measles was eliminated in the United States. From then on, all measles cases were imported.

In 2004, we had an historic low of just 37 measles cases in the United States!

Will we ever have fewer than 37 cases in a year?
Will we ever have fewer than 37 cases in a year?

And from 2000 to 2012, we averaged just 87 measles cases each year, which is far below the US average of 283 cases we are now seeing.

No, measles never completely left. It was not eradicated.

But it is certainly making a comeback and soaring to levels that we haven’t seen since 1992!

Just think about it… We had 37 cases of measles in 2004 and this year, we often had 37 cases in a single week!

Get vaccinated and protected so that you don’t get caught up in the next outbreak.

More on Measles Cases

Does the MMR Vaccine Cause More Seizures Than Measles?

Why do some parents think that the MMR vaccine causes more seizures than measles?

That's a lot of misinformation about measles in one post...
That’s a lot of misinformation about measles in one post…

Because that’s the latest propaganda that they are seeing in anti-vaccine groups on Facebook…

Does the MMR Vaccine Cause More Seizures Than Measles?

The MMR vaccine doesn’t cause seizures in 1 in 640 children…

Posts like this about seizures and the MMR vaccine are why folks are reporting anti-vaccine Facebook groups for Fake News?
Posts like this about seizures and the MMR vaccine are why folks are reporting anti-vaccine Facebook groups for Fake News?

The MMR vaccine doesn’t even cause seizures!

“The MMR vaccine has been associated with a very small risk of febrile seizure as a side effect. Two recent studies indicate that for every 10,000 children who get the MMR and varicella vaccines for their first vaccinations when they are 12–23 months old, about 4 will have a febrile seizure during the 5–12 days following vaccination.”

Understanding the Risk of Febrile Seizures After the First Vaccination at Ages 12–47 Months

It can cause febrile seizures, but even then, it is only at about a rate of 1 in 2500 children after the first dose (0.04%).

Is that “five times the rate from the actual measles infection?”

As I’m sure you are guessing, the answer is obviously no.

Overall, seizures occur in about 0.6% to 0.7% of measles cases!

In addition, actual measles infections can cause non-febrile seizures, which are much more serious than febrile seizures.

Also, measles can cause encephalitis, a life-threatening complication that is often accompanied by seizures.

This is in contrast to simple febrile seizures, which again, are typically considered to be harmless.

More On Seizures from MMR Vs Measles