A public health official explains how a local Somali community got hit with a measles outbreak.
Minnesota is currently battling its largest measles outbreak in nearly 30 years, with 50 confirmed cases. And it's become a case study in how difficult it can be to slay vaccine misinformation once it takes root.
What makes this outbreak so astounding is that it is nearly a decade in the making. In 2008, anti-vaccine advocates — including the Organic Consumers Association and Andrew Wakefield, a British doctor who falsified data suggesting vaccines are linked to autism — began targeting local Somali Americans who had concerns about autism among their children. The activists saw an opening, offering an explanation of a cause when the health department couldn't provide one.
