Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/834093
t m c » p u l s e | j u n e 2 0 1 7 23 ≤ 10 ≤ 50 ≤ 100 ≤ 500 ≤ 2,500 ≤ 5,000 > 5,000 GUINEA No. of Cases: 3,468 ROMANIA No. of Cases: 4,793 ITALY No. of Cases: 1,739 BELGIUM No. of Cases: 288 SYRIA No. of Cases: 350 GERMANY No. of Cases: 272 SOMALIA No. of Cases: 5,700 Source: Council on Foreign Relations from the measles vaccination than from the measles. Zedler reached this conclusion by comparing data about vaccine injuries from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) to CDC data about measles deaths. The problem? Anyone can report an "adverse event" to the VAERS database, which is run by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration. On the VAERS website, the CDC notes: "studies help determine if a vaccine really caused an adverse event. Just because an adverse event happened after a person received a vaccine does not mean the vaccine caused the adverse event." In other words, correlation does not equal causation. "I could break my arm the next day and I can report that to that reporting system," McGee explained to Zedler. "It's not necessarily due to the vaccine." Zedler responded, "For you to get up and tell this commit- tee in essence they can put anything down there they want is quite dishonest." McGee said she sent documentation the next day that supported everything she said in her testimony. "It's frustrating to go to the legislature to argue facts," she said. "I am always happy to answer a parent's legitimate concerns about vaccines. My frustration is with people on the public health committee who are supposed to be protecting public health." The Immunization Partnership also lobbied for House Bill 2249, known as the "parents' right to know" bill. This bill would have required the state to report vaccination exemp- tion data at the individual school level rather than the school district level. "We want parents to know how their school is doing in terms of vaccine coverage so they can make an informed choice," Hotez said. "If they see vaccine coverage is very low at their school, they can decide, 'This school isn't safe for my child.'" McGee noted that in addition to helping parents make informed school choices, House Bill 2249 "would help us as vaccine educators to know which schools to target and figure out what's going on if the rates are low." But the bill died in the House on May 11. Protecting Harris County Lack of legislative action regarding vaccines is challenging for the medical and public health experts who know all too well what will happen if the anti-vaccine movement gains more traction. (continued) MEASLES CASES IN 2017 Peter Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. Credit: Courtesy photo