Measles was a solved problem. For most of the 20th century potentially deadly virus infected between three and four million people each year, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of thousands of children. In 1971, the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) was approved for use and measles rapidly became just a bad memory.
By the 2000s the confirmed cases of measles each year in the United States had dropped to just 40-70, with a low in 2004 of only 37. Now, thanks to the antivax lies spouted by the current US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr, it’s making one heck of a comeback.
