Dr. Josh Green, governor of Hawaii, reflects on the 2019 measles outbreak that had begun on the small Pacific island nation and had spread out of control—becoming an epidemic that threatened to overwhelm the country.
As the lieutenant governor of Hawaii at the time and a practicing physician, he knew quick actions were necessary to save lives.
"Almost 20 years earlier, I had arrived on Hawaii’s Big Island as part of the National Health Service Corps to practice medicine at a small clinic in a remote community. I learned the value of preventative health care for rural, low-income patients, and the essential fact that vaccines are one of the most effective tools we have to prevent illness and save lives, especially those of children. As a rule, keeping vaccination rates above 95 percent can protect an entire population from infectious diseases like measles.
But when vaccination rates fall, preventable diseases can regain a foothold and pose a new danger. And that’s precisely what happened in Samoa, after misinformation spread by anti-vaccine activists eroded trust in vaccines and led to the 2019 outbreak."
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