Hundreds vaccinated after measles emergency in New York
NEW YORK: A New York county which declared a state of emergency over a measles outbreak is on the “right path” after administering hundreds of vaccinations in two days, the chief of the US district said on Friday.
Under the emergency, Rockland County banned nonvaccinated minors from public places in a bid to prevent the once-eliminated disease from spreading.
Planned for 30 days from midnight Wednesday, the emergency comes during a US surge in measles cases, linked to an anti-vaccination movement.
“We have already seen over 500 (new vaccinations) in the last couple of days,” Rockland County Executive Ed Day said on CNBC TV.
“People simply understand now that we are serious about this,” added Day, whose district is 40 kilometres north of downtown New York.
“We believe we are on a right path now to get at least a 93 per cent immunisation rate with the first shot,” close to the level considered necessary to end the outbreak.
Although measles was declared officially eliminated from the United States in 2000, outbreaks have occurred in five states this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The outbreaks are linked to travelers who brought the illness back from other countries, and the majority of people who got measles were unvaccinated, the CDC said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the growing anti-vaccine movement in richer nations constitutes a top-10 global health threat. The phenomenon has adherents in several Western nations, including Britain and France, but is particularly high profile in the US. — AFP