A recent KFF Health News article written by Amy Maxmen shines a light on the burden doctors, patients, and parents are experiencing from the Utah measles outbreak.
The article opens with a conversation with Dr. Ben Dowse, a pediatrician in Utah. He shared a story about two parents, their fear of vaccines, and their measles-infected newborn. Dowse was one of many frustrated healthcare professionals that shared insights with Maxmen. Many expressed feelings of helplessness when discussing the outbreak.
The article also highlighted the financial impact of measles, stating, “Medical visits for measles can cost more than $33,000 per patient. Health departments spend millions trying to curb infections.”
The doctors are calling for leadership to step up and make as much effort as anti-vaccine movements are doing. The article shares multiple stories of children contracting measles. One parent, whose children missed weeks of school when they caught the disease, voiced fear of stigmatization from peers and a local religious community when it came to vaccines. She said she wished she had gotten her children vaccinated early.
Many factors drive Utah’s alternative medicine community, and officials don’t have the resources to address the public’s vaccine concerns. Professionals are working longer shifts to curb the spread. One epidemiologist told Maxmen, “We give everything when we’re here, but the days of killing ourselves, when legislatively no one is going to give us any help, are done.”
