The anti-vaccination movement is now a global crisis, an international panel of scientists say, and everyone must do more to combat it.
“We are alarmed that the WHO [World Health Organization] this year declared vaccine hesitancy a top-10 international public health problem. This is a man-made, dangerous and wholly unnecessary crisis,” said Dr. Scott Ratzan. He’s founding editor of the Journal of Health Communication. He’s also the founder of the International Working Group (IWG) on Vaccination and Public Health Solutions.
The new Salzburg Statement on Vaccine Acceptance, published July 2, has been endorsed by 60 leaders in public health from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.
According to the group, vaccines have prevented hundreds of millions of infectious diseases — such as polio, measles, hepatitis B and meningitis — and save up to
