In the United States children experienced measles infection prior to 1963 and the introduction of the first measles vaccine. For the vast majority of children it was a typical childhood infection that consisted of fever, runny nose, cough, and rash, and > 90% were immune by 15 years of age. It was exceptionally rare for it to cause death or other serious effects. Prior to vaccination it was viewed the same as we view today a common cold, fifth disease, or hand-foot-and-mouth disease. It’s also known that natural acquired immunity is far superior to the temporary immunity achieved via vaccination, as can be seen by the ever-increasing CDC recommended doses (for MMR ACIP approved a 3rd dose in outbreaks).

Historical references show us that vaccination for this mild childhood infection wasn’t out of necessity, but possibility and political gain. “Many parents and many medical practitioners considered measles an inevitable stage of a child’s development. Debating the desirability of measles immunization, public health experts reasoned differently. In the United States, introduction of the vaccine fit well with Kennedy’s and Johnson’s administrations’ political commitments.” Alexander Langmuir was the chief epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1949 to 1970 and is quoted as saying:

“To those who ask me ‘Why do you wish to eradicate measles?...I reply with the same answer that Hillary used when asked why he wished to climb Mt. Everest. He said ‘Because it is there’. To this may be added, ‘… and it can be done.”

Today we are constantly hearing that measles eradication is only possible if everyone is vaccinated, but that doesn't appear to be a true statement. Consider this study: 

“...measles eradication is unlikely as population immunity of 96–98% is required to prevent persisting measles endemicity [7,8,27,201]. In a recent study of measles-vaccine efficacy from 1960 to 2010, median efficacy was only 94% [28]. Thus, approaches to eradicating measles will likely require consideration of new measles vaccines and vaccination strategies that overcome the many barriers inherent in the current measles vaccines [6,29–32].”

Or this one: 

“Nearly half of all measles cases (53 of 110) occurred in 2-dose recipients, and of these, 23% (12 of 53) were attenuated.”

You see...my concern is that even if we have a 100% compliance rate with the consumption of a product, we will still have measles outbreaks. Showing how many people have received a vaccine isn't the same thing as immunity, because vaccination does not equal immunization. Immunization is solely and completely dependent on the body and it's response to either a vaccine or a natural infection. As we can see from the evidence, showing compliance is a far cry from demonstrating immunity. Parents who are concerned about potentially exposing their child to a natural infection should be strong advocates for moving vaccination policy towards Ethical Vaccinomics, a titer based vaccination program.

The first MMR vaccine isn’t recommended until 12 months of age, so what about the babies too young to be vaccinated? Even with 100% compliance with consuming a vaccination, they cannot be protected by artificial “herd immunity”, as the above evidence shows. Oddly enough, prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine, when children experienced natural measles infection, women passed those antibodies on to their babies through maternal-placental transfer. Here is what CDC says about this reality: 

“...measles susceptibility of infants younger than 1 year of age may have increased. During the 1989–1991 measles resurgence, incidence rates for infants were more than twice as high as those in any other age group. The mothers of many infants who developed measles were young, and their measles immunity was most often due to vaccination rather than infection with wild virus. As a result, a smaller amount of antibody was transferred across the placenta to the fetus, compared with antibody transfer from mothers who had higher antibody titers resulting from wild-virus infection. The lower quantity of antibody resulted in immunity that waned more rapidly, making infants susceptible at a younger age than in the past.”

During the famous 2015 “Disney measles outbreak” that made mainstream news sensational headlines, 45% of infections occurred in the unvaccinated; of those cases 40% were in babies too young to be vaccinated. Vaccination is shifting the burden of infection onto our younger, more vulnerable population because vaccination just isn't capable of creating “herd immunity” in the same way natural infection can. Another important point to consider is that almost half of the genotypes detected in the 2015 cases were vaccine strain measles virus:

"During the measles outbreak in California in 2015, a large number of suspected cases occurred in recent vaccinees (3). Of the 194 measles virus sequences obtained in the United States in 2015, 73 were identified as vaccine sequences (R. J. McNall, unpublished data).”

MMR vaccine is a live-virus vaccine and it can and does shed to others, especially in the 5% of cases that experience fever and rash post vaccination. Despite the fact that almost half of the detectable viruses were from the live virus vaccine, California State Senator Richard Pan used the 2015 measles outbreak to push a vaccine consumption agenda via SB277. This legislation successfully removed reasons of conscience and religious vaccine exemptions from California children and mandated consumption of these products in order to attend public school. Just like the introduction of the measles vaccine, over 50 years later we still see political commitments as reasons to push a vaccine agenda, as drug companies donate millions to California lawmakers prior to the SB277 debate.

Regarding vaccine strain measles virus shedding, it is well documented that measles virus RNA is detected in urine specimens of recently vaccinated persons as we see in this study: 

“Analysis of urine specimens by using reverse transcriptase-PCR was evaluated as a rapid assay to identify individuals infected with measles virus. For the study, daily urine samples were obtained from either 15-month-old children or young adults following measles immunization. Overall, measles virus RNA was detected in 10 of 12 children during the 2-week sampling period. In some cases, measles virus RNA was detected as early as 1 day or as late as 14 days after vaccination. Measles virus RNA was also detected in the urine samples from all four of the young adults between 1 and 13 days after vaccination.”

If the measles virus gains access to the urine, it’s via the bloodstream, which means it’s highly probable the virus is also being shed through respiration. Since these observations only detected the presence of measles RNA through PCR testing and not a genotype evaluation it’s impossible to know if the virus is mutating in the vaccinated host. This is one complication of live attenuated viruses as we see discussed in this study: 

“many live-attenuated vaccines exhibit reversion to virulence through back-mutation of attenuating mutations, compensatory mutations elsewhere in the genome, recombination or reassortment, or changes in quasispecies diversity.” 

It is well documented in the scientific literature that cellular line passage is an important factor in viral genetic expression, especially in an RNA virus like measles 

“High mutation rates typical of RNA viruses often generate a unique viral population structure consisting of a large number of genetic microvariants. In the case of viral pathogens, this can result in rapid evolution of antiviral resistance or vaccine-escape mutants.” 

Fortunately, measles is a relatively stable virus as it only has one serotype, which means genotype A vaccine strains have historically elicited an immune response in the body that covers all genotypes. Currently there are 22 known circulating genotypes A-H, 19 of which were detected after 1990. As you can see from the accompanied image worldwide vaccination campaigns appear to have led to an increase in genotype expression.

There is emerging evidence, however, that measles virus strains are evolving away from the vaccine strains and that vaccine acquired immunity can no longer offer protection if exposed to certain genotypes. As seen here:

“One Nigerian virus was resistant to neutralization by 30% of the late convalescent women and by 75% of vaccinees. These results suggest that qualitative differences in neutralizing antibodies may reduce further protection of infants by passively acquired immunity against wild‐type viruses when vaccinated girls become mothers.” 

And here:

“...the proportion of the population possessing only vaccine-induced immunity has increased over time with reduced exposure to wild-type MV infection and there is now evidence of resistance of recent measles virus wild-type isolates to antibody-mediated neutralization in vaccinees. This includes individuals with not only primary but also secondary vaccine failure [7, 8] and is a concern for global MV elimination.” 

Primary vaccine failure is when the vaccine recipient fails to mount an immune response and does not gain any immunity. Secondary vaccine failure is when the vaccine recipient mounts an immune response but loses immunity over time. As we can see from the above studies, vaccine failure itself and viral evolution are obstacles in the prospects of global measles eradication. While this idea is a noble endeavor, beyond the former obstacles are two other very problematic concepts -- cross-species transmission and scientific advances in viral vector systems.

Measles is a morbillivirus, a family of viruses that have multiple species hosting with the potential of cross-species transmission:

“Other viruses in the genus Morbillivirus include peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV), which causes disease in small ruminants, such as goats and sheep; canine distemper virus (CDV), which causes distemper in dogs and a large number of other carnivore species; phocine distemper virus (PDV), which leads to distemper in several seal species and cetacean morbilliviruses (CeMV), which cause disease in dolphins and whales.”

We have been told that humans are the only host for measles virus, but that is not a true statement; measles virus infects primates too: 

"Following infection, all rhesus monkeys developed a skin rash and conjunctivitis, which were less obvious in cynomolgus monkeys. Fever was either mild or absent in both species. Virus reisolation profiles from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and broncho-alveolar lavage cells and the kinetics of MV-specific IgM and IgG responses were largely identical in the two animal species."

Recent advances in science are using viruses as vectors to genetically modify organisms. Viral vectors are viruses loaded with a pre-selected package of genetic materials delivered directly into cells. Measles is one viral vector being used for developing new vaccinations and anti-cancer treatments. These genetically modified measles virus vectors are completely man-made and have the potential to replicate in a human host and spread to others 

"Attenuated oncolytic MV vectors retain some characteristics enabling them to replicate in the human host. Compared to replication defective viral vectors, the likelihood of exposure of the environment around the patient is increased.61 However, dissemination of the viral vector from the patient into the environment is not an adverse event per se. Its impact will mostly depend on the characteristics of the recombinant vector itself, such as its pathogenicity, its infectious dose, its transmission mode, the availability of effective prophylaxis or treatment, its susceptibility to disinfection.33"

Below you will find images of the current projects using measles virus as a vector system.

The only thing we can know for sure is that science is never settled. The purest form of science is an objective observation. In an environment where more knowledge leads to more questions, we find ourselves in an-ever evolving scientific process. Never stop asking questions. It is unfortunate that a profit driven society is leading to the dissolution of liberty as is witnessed by the Californian legislation, SB277. The moral of this story remains in the purest form of unsettled science as demonstrated by this discussion: the decision to vaccinate or not should always remain in the hands of the parent or individual. It's a matter of consumer choice. Let's be more educated on this issue and refrain from emotional knee-jerk reactions that threaten freedom in this great country. 

Michelle Cotterman, RN APP is a co-founder of Health Freedom Ohio. She is the mother of two naturally raised children. Her continuing education focuses on Holistic Health and includes Polarity Therapy, Homeopathy, and Herbalism. Michelle has been studying the science behind vaccines and the vaccine industry since 2010.