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As Americans reject vaccines, health workers abroad risk death to deliver them

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February 13, 2019 at 6:00 a.m. EST
A nurse administers a measles vaccine to a student in Yemen on Feb. 9, 2019, during a week-long vaccination campaign against measles at a school amid a rapidly spreading outbreak. (Yahya Arhab/EPA-EFE)

In early October, three cases of measles were confirmed in Antanarivo, the capital of Madagascar. The highly contagious virus quickly spread across the island nation; by the next month, thousands of cases had been confirmed. The crisis only grew from there.

Madagascar has poor health-care infrastructure and a low vaccination rate. But public health experts say its dangerous measles outbreak still offers a warning for anti-vaccination campaigners in the United States, where a smaller-scale flare-up has led to more than 100 confirmed cases since the beginning of the year. Conspiracy theories that vaccines are ineffective or can cause certain disabilities and medical conditions have led a number of American parents to resist vaccinating their children.