I had a little bird,
And it’s name was Enza.
I opened the window
And in-flew-Enza.
The 1918 influenza pandemic (known as Spanish flu, an H1N1 variant) infected almost one quarter of the world’s population, and killed 3-5% of it, over 50 million people. The number of worldwide deaths were greater than the deaths of the Black Plague, AIDS and Ebola combined. They were greater than the total number of soldiers killed in the World Wars. It infected 28% of Americans, and killed 675,000 of them, almost 5% of our population of 1.3 million. In Samoa it infected 90% of the population and killed 22% of those infected.
Today’s Spanish flu is measles. Measles, one of the most infectious diseases known to man, has broken out around the world. There has been a 300% rise in cases this year, with countries reporting 413,308 cases to the W.H.O., and deaths in the thousands. In the Congo, year to date, measles has killed twice the number of people as Ebola. W.H.O. estimates that 140,000 children under five died in developing countries in 2018. In Samoa, measles has infected 3% of the population and left 72 dead, mostly children under the age of 5. Vaccination rates were at 30% when the outbreak occurred (and are now mandatory).
In the United States, measles was thought to be eradicated in 2000 but has broken out in 31 states, the greatest number of cases since 1992, despite vaccination levels at 90%. The overwhelming majority of the cases are among people who were not vaccinated. It is a scientific fact that 93-97% of the population must be vaccinated to protect the small number who cannot be vaccinated due to age or health.
Reasons differ around the world for the outbreaks but include refusal to vaccinate, problems with health care access or civil unrest. Anti-vaxxers, a group dedicated to spreading false information, is the primary issue in the United States and social media continues to spread the propaganda.
As a people, we must stop the spread of misinformation regarding vaccinations and contribute to organizations such as the World Health Organization, the United Nations Foundation and UNICEF who are helping around the world.