Now, with the U.S.on the verge of losing its measles elimination status, those on the front lines of the battle against vaccine misinformation say much progress has been lost.Many residents fear leaving home at all, let alone seeking medical advice or visiting a doctor's office.“People are worried about survival,” said nurse practitioner Munira Maalimisaq, CEO of the Inspire Change Clinic, near a Minneapolis neighborhood where many Somalis live.
“Vaccines are the last thing on people’s minds.But it is a big issue.”In 2006, 92% of Somali 2-year-olds were up-to-date on the measles vaccine, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.Today's rate is closer to 24%, according to state data.
A 95% rate is needed to prevent outbreaks of measles, an extremely contagious disease.Community vaccination efforts go through cycles, Maalimisaq said, with initiatives starting and stopping.Imam Yusuf Abdulle said immigration enforcement has put everything on hold.“People are stuck in their homes, cannot go to work,” he said.“It is madness.
And the last thing to think about is talking about autism, talking about childhood vaccination.Adults cannot get out of the house, forget about kids.”Estimated autism rates in Somali 4-year-olds are 3.5 times higher than those of white 4-year-olds in Minnesota, according to University of Minnesota data.Researchers say they don’t know why.
And in this vacuum of scientific certainty, inaccurate beliefs thrive.In November, at one of Maalimisaq’s last Motherhood Circle gatherings, Somali mothers and grandmothers volleyed questions at facilitators.Won’t a shot for three viruses overwhelm a baby? Why does autism seem more prevalent here than back home? Vaccines are tested for safety, Maalimisaq and her panel explained.Delaying a shot is risky, they warned, because of what measles — which is seeing its highest spread in the country in more than three decades — can do.Most parents here vaccinate their children eventually.
Many Somali families prefer to wait until a child is 5, despite a lack of evidence that doing so cuts autism rates.Measles is endemic in Somalia, where war and international aid cuts have crippled the medical system, and elsewhere in East Africa where residents here often travel.“Measles is just a plane ride away, and measles is going to find the unvaccinated,” said Carly Edson, the state health department’s immunization outreach coordinator.“We are always at risk.”Among the last cohort of Somali moms at the clinic, 83% had vaccinated their kids by the end of the 12-month program, she said.
Some were making 10-second videos explaining why they vaccinated.But efforts have paused.Popular ReadsGuthrie family issues message to potential kidnappers: 'We want to talk to you'Feb 5, 8:05 PMNancy Guthrie abduction: Sheriff reveals more detailed timelineFeb 6, 9:16 AMTrump says he didn't see full racist video, says he won't apologizeFeb 6, 10:09 PMWarsama said Trump's unproven claims last fall that taking Tylenol during pregnancy could cause autism sparked fears and questions here.
The idea that the MMR shot should be split into three vaccines — one backed, with no scientific basis, by acting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jim O’Neill, though no standalone shots are available in the U.S.— has spread, too.Warsama traces the issue back more than a decade, when discredited researcher Andrew Wakefield published his study — since retracted — claiming a link between autism and the MMR vaccine.
Wakefield visited with Twin Cities Somalis in 2011.“The misinformers will always fill the void,” Warsama said.“That 15 minutes will not change the mind of a parent,” she said.Some doctors are pushing beyond the exam room — work they describe as slow and taxing.Changing one family's mind can take multiple visits, even years.
“I’m going to call you in five days,” Fate said he tells hesitant parents, “and there’ll be no changes to this speech.”State data suggests the effort to catch kids up may be effective: While less than 1 in 4 Somali kids in Minnesota is vaccinated against measles by age 2, 86% get at least one dose by age 6 — just short of the statewide rate, 89%.Imam Abdulle said when parents ask him about the vaccine, he tells his own story.He wasn’t opposed to it but decided to err on the side of waiting.His son was diagnosed with autism at age 3, Abdulle said, and later was vaccinated.
Correlation, he reminds parents, is not causation.“So what did that tell me?” she asked the room.“It confirmed that autism is not from the MMR.”___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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