Misinformation about the measles outbreak across West Texas and the U.S. is spreading with more Americans reporting hearing false claims - and it comes with potentially deadly consequences.
Even as the number of national cases has exceeded 800 and two children have died, “false and misleading statements” regarding the measles virus and vaccines used to target measles have continued to circulate, a new KFF Health poll found.
One of those false claims is regarding a link between autism in children and the shots. The survey reported that approximately 63 percent of adults said they have read or heard the false claim that the vaccines have been proven to cause autism in children.
There is no link between autism and the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, which is 97 percent effective against infection.
Notably, the majority of respondents who heard the false claim were white, compared to fewer Black and Hispanic adults.
But, that’s not the only false information being passed around. A third of adults and parents have heard or read the false claim that getting the measles vaccine is more dangerous than becoming infected, and one in five adults – and 17 percent of parents – have heard or read the false claim that Vitamin A can prevent infections.
Vitamin A has been presented by Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as a potential treatment for infection, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updating its guidance to say administration of the vitamin...
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