Experts Concerned Declining Childhood Vaccination Rates Could Cause Reemergence Of More Preventable Diseases

CNN (3/3, Mukherjee) reports vaccination coverage for the “measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP), polio, and varicella, or chickenpox vaccines,” has declined in more than 30 states. Experts fear that if “vaccination rates continue to decline, the US can expect to see more cases of pneumococcal disease, Haemophilus influenzae type b, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, hepatitis, and rotavirus.” Notably, “the percentage of kindergartners who received the DTaP vaccine has steadily declined over the past five years,” leading to “more than 35,000 cases of whooping cough in the US” last year. Without the use of the HPV vaccine, “experts warn there could be an increase in HPV associated cancers, like cervical, throat and neck cancer, within the next few decades.”