JUDY WOODRUFF: Even as health care officials around the world struggle to deal with the
coronavirus, a far more contagious disease, measles, is on the rise across the globe.
Hari Sreenivasan explores what is driving this deadly spike.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Nearly three times as many people have died from measles in the Democratic
Republic of Congo than from Ebola. It's the world's worst epidemic of the disease. More
than 6,000 are dead, with over 300,000 suspected cases from every province of the country.
PONTIENNE MWENGISA, Mother (through translator): Measles is a very serious disease that attacks
children, and we parents do not know how to defend ourselves against this disease. That's
why I wanted him to get the vaccine, so that his body can develop immunity.
HARI SREENIVASAN: And military conflict can prevent everyone who wants the vaccine from
getting it.
MATUTINA LOBVE, Mother of Child With Measles (through translator): We have fled our villages
because there is no peace there. If we also lose peace of mind and in our hearts because
of our children's suffering, because of measles, that is a really bad thing for us. We want
the vaccine.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Not everyone in a community has to have the vaccine for protection. If
95 percent of a group gets immunized, there's what's called herd immunity, when the high
number of vaccinated prevent the spread of an infection.
But in the Congo, only 57 percent of the population is vaccinated, according to UNICEF.
There's also the matter of the return visit. According to UNICEF, while 86 percent of the
children around the world receive the first dose, fewer than 70 percent receive the recommended
second dose.
Dr. Paul Offit is the director of the vaccine center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
DR. PAUL OFFIT, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: It's a disease that's so contagious that you
don't even have to have face-to-face contact with someone to catch it. You just have to
be in their airspace.
In other words, if I had measles and left this room, someone really who came into this
room within two hours of my being here could catch measles.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Measles can cause a high fever, runny nose, cough and red eyes. During
winter, those symptoms can be hard to distinguish from the flu or a common cold.
After three to five days, a large rash appears, usually starting on the face, before spreading
to other parts of the body. It can lead to long-term health impacts, including pneumonia,
swelling of the brain and permanent blindness or hearing loss.
The vaccine is usually administered after a child's first birthday, then again between
ages 4 and 6, meaning infants under the age of 1 are most at risk among unvaccinated populations.
Lack of access to vaccines in a war-torn land is understandable, but what's happening in
otherwise tranquil Samoa is something different. Measles killed more than 70 Samoans last year.
Nearly 5,000 cases have been reported. Keep in mind, the population here is just over
200,000.
ESETA MEKI, Lost 2-Year-Old Son to Measles (through translator): The nurses tried their
best, but, in the end, they told me they couldn't save him.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Here, unvaccinated families place red flags outside their home to signal
that they need the vaccine or that someone may be sick.
ELSIE LELESIO, Mother of Measles Victim: We have a lot of dreams that we need to fulfill
for our little ones. But once they are lost, we don't know what to do, and we don't know
how to accept it.
HARI SREENIVASAN: The government declared a state of emergency, closed schools and banned
children from gathering in large groups. Just 31 percent of children under the age of one
received the measles vaccine in 2018.
During the height of the outbreak, Samoan officials arrested prominent anti-vaccine
activist Edwin Tamasese, who rose to prominence after claiming the government's vaccination
efforts would result in mass casualties.
Such misinformation is fueling a hesitancy toward vaccines, so much so that the World
Health Organization labeled vaccine hesitancy among the top 10 threats to global health.
KATE O'BRIEN, World Health Organization: Hundreds of millions s of people have received the
vaccine. And it is really a collective failure that these outbreaks are happening, and an
increase in the number of cases and deaths are happening, and the underlying reason is
that people are not vaccinated.
HARI SREENIVASAN: And, thus, measles cases skyrocketed 167 percent worldwide from 2016
to 2018. Deaths climbed from 110,000 in 2017 to 140,000 in 2018.
Needless to say, it's not just an island chain in the South Pacific surrounded by a sea of
misinformation. The shores of the developed world are also inundated. According to the
latest numbers available, measles in Europe has doubled, 90,000 cases in the first half
of 2019, compared to 84,000 cases for all of 2018.
More than half those cases came from Ukraine. In addition to being at the center of our
impeachment scandal, it is also the center of a population unconvinced by the science.
ANDRIY CHERENKOV, Protester (through translator): No one is showing the other side. There are
many harmed children, for example, my nephew. He has autism.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Pediatrician Anna Kukharuk says that idea changes quickly after exposure.
DR. ANNA KUKHARUK, Pediatrician (through translator): Some people say that measles is a children's
illness and it is better to just go through it. But, as soon as they go through the illness,
those who were against vaccination ask to be vaccinated.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Lest we think these beliefs are still on foreign soil or that the measles
is at bay in the United States, just look at the numbers. Last year, the U.S. reported
more than 1,200 confirmed cases, the highest number in 25 years.
Keep in mind, measles was officially eliminated from the United States in 2000; 73 percent
of America's cases in 2019 were linked to recent outbreaks in New York, with the vast
majority reported in Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn, where distrust of vaccinations
is prevalent.
And the spread of misinformation around vaccines has been gathering steam for years here. Celebrities
like Jenny McCarthy and Robert Kennedy famously have spoken out against vaccines.
Here's then candidate Donald Trump at a Republican presidential debate:
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: Just the other day, 2 years old, 2.5 years
old, a child, a beautiful child went, to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later
got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Such scientifically unfounded claims mean experts like Paul Offit have to
keep emphasizing their safety.
DR. PAUL OFFIT: The frustration, I think, is, it's an excellent vaccine. This vaccine
actually has the capacity to eliminate measles from the face of the Earth, much in the same
manner that we eliminated smallpox from the face of the Earth.
So, we can do this. We don't have to suffer the 150,000 deaths.
HARI SREENIVASAN: The misinformation is perhaps the only thing more contagious than the virus.
It spreads quickly, thanks to closed Facebook groups with thousands of members.
Another reason these ideas spread is a lack of firsthand exposure. It is important to
remember that measles has been preventable for 60 years, and most young people have never
seen its effects.
DR. PAUL OFFIT: I have seen a lot of measles. I can tell in 30 seconds whether or not it's
measles. It's how sick the child looks. Often, they're photophobic, meaning they're intolerant
to light.
They look down. They're squinting, because they sort of have this sort of mild encephalopathy.
And they're ill. Measles makes you sick, and measles can make you dead.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Experts estimate that, over the last 18 years, the measles vaccination
alone has saved more than 23 million lives.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Hari Sreenivasan.