“In 1964 to 1965 German measles infected 12 ½ million Americans
“In 1964 to 1965 German measles infected 12 ½ million Americans, killed 2,000 babies, and caused 11,000 miscarriages,” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). German measles is caused by rubella and was a common disease that occurred in young children. Now with the availability of rubella vaccines, rubella has been eliminated from the United States since 2004 (CDC, 2018). With access to immunization, there has been a rapid decline in reported cases and in some diseases, there are zero cases to report. Parents should not avoid vaccinating their children because vaccines can prevent serious illness and disease, it can also help prevent outbreaks of diseases.
Smallpox is the only disease that has been eliminated from the use of vaccines. However, “all other vaccine-preventable diseases still cause suffering and death in the United States or the rest of the world or both. Vaccines continue to be necessary for several reasons,” (Offit & Moser, 2011, p.) Some diseases such as chickenpox, whooping cough, hepatitis A & B, human papillomavirus and influenza are among the few diseases which can make a person very ill or even kill them. There are still cases in the United States where some of these diseases are still very common.
