< Michael Gochfeld, M.D., Ph.D. featured in USA Today: Why are vaccines controversial? - EOHSI | EOHSI

Measles cases are resurgent. So why are vaccines controversial?

The roots of the anti-vax movement are varied and hard to counter. 
For one thing, parents today generally haven’t seen the painful or fatal consequences of the targeted diseases. 
“When I was growing up, everybody got measles – and some people died,” said Dr. Michael Gochfeld, professor emeritus at Rutgers University’s Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute. As for polio, “It was lurking at your doorstep – you didn’t go out in the summer.”
“There was fear, and when the vaccines became available there was virtually no opposition,” Gochfeld said.
Today, he said, the infectious diseases of the past aren’t so feared, and parents who feel uncertain about vaccines see less urgency in protecting against those contagions.  

(Source: USA Today 4-26-2019)

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