Measles outbreak continues to rage, and pediatrician Jay Gordon adds fuel to the fire

Posted on January 28, 2015 by admin

The measles outbreak, which began in Disneyland but is now spreading, continues to be a hot topic. And of course, concerns about vaccinations are right at the center of this debate, with the anti-vaxxers clinging strongly to their beliefs that children should not receive the life-saving vaccine. However, for those of us who are strongly – and rightly – in favor of vaccinations, a segment airing on CBS News featuring Doctor Jay Gordon, a pediatrician in Santa Monica, California, will make your blood boil.

Dr. Gordon says that more than half his patients choose to delay vaccinating their children for measles or flat out decide not to, and he has signed hundreds of “personal belief exemptions,” giving parents the chance to leave their children unvaccinated. He is unconcerned about this measles outbreak, saying that the worst that can happen is a child will get measles, “not meningitis, not the plague, not Ebola, they’d get measles. Measles is almost always a benign childhood illness.” And he goes on to say that those parents who choose to leave their children unvaccinated are not the ones responsible for this outbreak.

What Dr. Gordon is forgetting is what it was like before the measles vaccine existed. Dr. Deborah Lehman at Cedars Sinai Medical Center says, “”People don’t remember children staying in dark rooms because they have measles and the light hurts their eyes and developing brain swelling and serious developmental problems. We’ve given people a false sense of security and it’s situations like this, outbreaks like this that really remind us of the importance of these diseases and really the benefit of vaccine.”……. To Read More….