Anti-vax movement spurs global measles outbreak

Measles — that totally preventable disease we’ve been immunizing the world against since the 1960s — is back, the FT reports. The World Health Organization reported that cases of the measles in 2018 rose by 50% globally. Global health experts point to parents’ refusal to inoculate their children as the largest single reason behind the disease’s resurgence. The anti-vaccination movement, once a fringe segment, has found growing support from populist movements that also stress distrust of experts and scientists, creating an alliance with dangerous consequences. The current anti-establishment government in Italy has removed the legal requirement to vaccinate children while France’s Marine Le Pen has publicly endorsed a parent’s right to refuse the state’s mandatory vaccines. Back to the 1950s we go.