As more parents choose to forgo vaccines, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden is worried.
“We are very concerned by the growing number of people who are susceptible to measles, and the possibility that we could have a large outbreak in this country as a result,” Frieden said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Measles was declared eliminated by the CDC in 2000, but there are at least 102 reported cases across 14 states right now as parents turn down the vaccine for their children.
“… Not getting your kid vaccinated is not only a risk for you own kid but puts other vulnerable kids in your community at risk,” Frieden said.
“One in six kids could have a fever ten days after, but the vaccine is safe and effective. And for those parents that may think that measles is gone, it’s still here, and it can be quite serious,” he said, addressing concerns of some parents that the vaccine is not safe or that measles no longer exists.
“The future is within our control. We vaccinate well, we increase those vaccination rates, we can stop measles just as we stopped it before,” Frieden added.
