約翰霍普金斯大學醫學院生物醫學工程，計算機科學和生物統計學教授Steven Salzberg說，最新麻疹疫情的發生是因為沒有接種疫苗的人群越來越多造成的。
他補充道，反對兒童接種疫苗的運動是錯誤的，盡管有充足的科學證據表明疫苗是有效的，但是他們無休止地重複了各種錯誤的聲明，如疫苗引發自閉症。”
他繼續補充道，在過去的15年裏，數十個涉及數百萬人的研究充分證明疫苗的任何成分都與自閉症無關，疫苗不僅安全，也許是人類文明史中最偉大的公共衛生成就。
教授和Schuchat博士均指出，我們不應低估麻疹的嚴重性。1/10的小兒感染麻疹後發生耳部感染，這可能導致聽力喪失，約1/20發展為肺炎。在此麻疹疫情暴發之際，一季度1/4的感染者已被送往醫院。
博士在新聞發布會上說，今年的新聞應答發出警告，麻疹仍在進入美國，未接種疫苗人群可能會感染病毒。
因此，全國疾病預防控製中心和衛生保健專業人士呼籲所有人確保他們接種過麻疹疫苗。Schuchat博士說，許多人認為麻疹消失了，且自己和子女均沒有接種疫苗的家長應引起警惕，麻疹疫情仍在蔓延，甚至可能會越發嚴重。MMR疫苗是安全有效的，高度推薦使用。
MMR vaccine: 'safe, effective and highly recommended
'Writing in an article for Forbes, Steven Salzberg, a professor of biomedical engineering, computer science and biostatistics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, says this latest measles epidemic has been "fueled by growing enclaves of unvaccinated people."
"Anti-vaxxers have been relentless in the efforts to spread misinformation," he adds. "Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccines are beneficial, they endlessly repeat a variety false claims, such as vaccines cause autism."
"Over the past 15 years, dozens of studies involving hundreds of thousands of people have shown convincingly that neither vaccines nor any of the ingredients in them are linked to autism," he continues. "Vaccines are not only safe, but they are perhaps the greatest public health success in the history of civilization."
Both Prof. Salzburg and Dr. Schuchat note that we should not underestimate how serious measles can be. Around 1 in 10 children with measles develop ear infections, which can lead to hearing loss, and around 1 in 20 develop pneumonia. In this outbreak alone, a quarter of infected individuals have been hospitalized as a result.
"The news this year is concerning and serves as a warning that measles is still coming into the United States and that unvaccinated people can get exposed," said Dr. Schuchat in a press briefing.
"These outbreaks the past couple of years have been much harder to control when the virus reaches communities where numbers of people have not been vaccinated and, of course, when the virus comes into the country and exposing people at large venues where many people gather, the chances of exposure are greater," she added.
As such, the CDC and health care professionals across the country are calling for all individuals to ensure they receive the measles vaccination. Dr. Schuchat said:
"I want to make sure that parents who think that measles is gone and haven't made sure that they or their children are vaccinated are aware that measles is still around and it can be serious. And that MMR vaccine is safe and effective and highly recommended."
Whether Dr. Schuchat's reassurance that the MMR vaccine is safe will encourage increased vaccination coverage going forward is unclear. But Prof. Salzburg says it is possible the measles epidemic itself will change people's views about vaccination.
"Perhaps the Disneyland epidemic will finally convince parents, schools, and state legislatures that they need to insist that children get vaccinated before going to school," he wrote in Forbes. "Perhaps it will also convince parents to stop listening to nonsense, and choose wisely by getting their children vaccinated against measles. We won this battle before, and we can win it again."
