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Samoa’s Measles Outbreak and Response

Samoan woman at work

(updated to reflect new outbreak figures released by AFP on Nov. 25, 2019)—A total of 2,194 cases of measles have been reported in Samoa this year. The government has declared a state of emergency and closed all schools, including the nation’s only university. Samoan health authorities are developing plans to implement compulsory MMR (mumps, measles, rubella) vaccinations on Nov. 25, 2019.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

According to the AFP, when declaring the state of emergency the Samoan government issued a statement that, “MMR vaccinations for members of the public who have not yet received a vaccination injection is now a mandatory legal requirement for all of Samoa.” It is unclear how the MMR vaccinations will be administered or what types of sanctions people will face for refusing to comply.9

Twenty-five deaths, all but one in children under four years of age, have been attributed to the measles outbreak and Samoa’s Director General of Health, who expressed concern that the epidemic may worsen. “The way it is going now and the poor [vaccination] coverage, we are anticipating the worst to come,” said Dr. Leausa Toleafoa Take Naseri. He estimated that 66 percent of the country’s population of 200,000 people has been vaccinated against measles.3 4 5 6 7 8

The relatively low rate of vaccination in Samoa has been cited by that country’s Ministry of Health as the main reason for the 25 deaths.6

But is this necessarily true?

There is some question about whether the high measles mortality in Samoa this year is solely due to the 66 percent vaccination rate among Samoans. While the fact that only two-thirds of Samoa’s population has been vaccinated for measles may explain the high incidence and spread of the disease, there may be other factors that account for the high mortality rate associated with Samoa’s current measles outbreak.10 11

While measles is a highly contagious infection, it very rarely causes death or disability in the United States and other developed nations.11 12 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there are one or two associated deaths for every 1,000 cases of measles.10 11 However, this year in the U.S. there have been 1,261 confirmed measles cases reported in 31 states as of Nov. 7, 2019 and no deaths.13

Why such a disparity between the U.S. and Samoa in the number of deaths associated with measles? One reason might be the wide disparity in socio-economic conditions between the two countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO):

The overwhelming majority (more than 95%) of measles deaths occur in countries with low per capita incomes and weak health infrastructures.14

There is also the issue of the impact of diet on the susceptibility of people to become severely ill or die from infectious diseases like measles. Malnutrition, for example, is a significant and growing problem in Samoa, particularly among the country’s children.15 16 17

The nonprofit organization The Borgen Project, which focuses on poverty and hunger around the world, says on its website:

Malnutrition in Samoa occurs in a variety of forms. In Samoa, the most common form of malnutrition is Protein-Energy Malnutrition, or P.E.M. Because P.E.M. is caused by an inadequate protein intake, it has its greatest impact on children, due to the low intake of protein in their diet.15

As it does in the rest of the world, malnutrition leads to many health problems in Samoa. In 2014, four children died and 19 were hospitalized as a result of diarrhea outbreaks. A ministry of health report connected poor dietary practices, and the use of Devondale milk as a substitute for both adequate baby formula and poor nutritional practices, to pediatric ward visits during the outbreak.15

The impact of malnutrition on Samoa, and particularly on the children of Samoa, is shocking.15

Given the malnutrition among Samoan children, it is reasonable to assume that part of the reason for the high measles mortality rate in that country’s ongoing measles outbreak has do with environmental factors that raise risks for measles complications. A study by Peter R. Belamarich, MD published in the journal Pediatrics in Review noted:

Children who were more than 100% of their expected weight for age (the 50th percentile) experienced no measles mortality, those whose weight was 90% of expected (mildly malnourished) had a 10% mortality rate, and those who were 55% of expected weight (very severely malnourished) had a mortality rate of almost 50%.18

Clearly, the nutritional status of a country matters when it comes to lowering mortality from measles. This has certainly been the case in the United States, where measles mortality rates in the U.S. dropped by more than 90 percent during the first half of the 20th century prior to the introduction of the first measles vaccine in 1963.19

Deaths from measles had decreased from 21 deaths per 1000 reported cases during 1911-1912 to less than one death per 1000 reported cases in 1953-1962. This improved measles morality rate was owed to several factors unrelated to the measles vaccine, including better sanitation and living conditions, as well as better nutrition and improved access to health care.19


References:
1 Measles outbreak: Samoa declares state of emergency after 6 fatalities. Deutsche Welle Nov. 18, 2019
2  AFP News Agency. Samoa makes measles vaccine mandatory to stop deadly outbreak. Al Jazeera Nov. 17, 2019.
3 Davidson J. Measles Outbreak in Samoa Kills 6. Schools Closed. State of Emergency Declared. EcoWatch Nov. 18, 2019.
4 AFP. Death toll from Samoa measles epidemic reaches 25. Yahoo! News Nov. 25, 2019
5 Reuters. Samoa declares state of emergency over deadly measles epidemic. The Guardian Nov. 17, 2019.
6 Wibawa T. Samoa’s measles crisis has claimed 15 lives but how did the outbreak start? ABC News Nov. 18, 2019.
7 Woodyatt A. Samoa declares state of emergency after measles deaths. CNN Nov. 19, 2019.
8 Zialcita P. Samoa Closes Schools And Mandates Vaccinations Amid Deadly Measles Epidemic. NPR Nov. 18, 2019.
9 Samoa makes measles vaccine mandatory to stop deadly outbreak. AFP Nov. 18, 2019.
10 MacMillan A. Can You Die From Measles? Why Doctors Are So Worried About Recent Outbreaks Health.com Mar. 1, 2019.
11 Scutti S. Measles rarely kills in the US — but when it does, here’s how. CNN Feb. 5, 2019.
12 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Measles Data and Statistics. CDC.gov Apr. 16, 2019.
13 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Measles Cases and Outbreaks. CDC.gov Nov. 12, 2019.
14 World Health Organization. Measles. WHO. int May 9, 2019.
15 Michaels A. Malnutrition in Samoa. The Borgen Project.
16 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Dietary patterns of households in Samoa. FAO.org 2017.
17 World  Samoa Nutrition Profile. GlobalNutritionReport.org.
18 Belamarich PR. Measles and Malnutrition. Pediatrics in Review February 1998; 19(2) 70-71.
19 Cáceres M. The Story of Measles’ Sharp Decline. The Vaccine Reaction Apr. 12, 2016.

23 Responses

  1. Sounds like the food problem is greater than the need of vaccinations. Vaccination could cause even more trouble, if the children are so badly nourished !

  2. Using facts provided by the article, it seems possible that Samoa hasn’t declared a state of national emergency based on malnutrition. So measles becomes an emergency but malnutrition does not. I would conclude that the public health authorities are not focused on saving lives but rather on making announcements and taking dramatic and costly steps that are well-supported by the media which is owned by big pharma.

    I’m always disappointed when these articles and research don’t include a reference to how many cases occurred among children who had been vaccinated and whether research determined whether cases where live measles virus. It just seems like you don’t have the whole picture unless you’ve qualified these factors because we know elsewhere in the world we’ve seen MMR vaccines cause measles and new cases caused by vaccine strains.

    1. “I’m always disappointed when these articles and research don’t include a reference to how many cases occurred among children who had been vaccinated and whether research determined whether cases where live measles virus.”

      I was thinking the same thing. The article leaves one begging the answer to that question.

    2. I don’t have the PCR data for Samoa, but since it supposedly “came from NZ” and I have that here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uqMWoyeFlzdT_5dHSg_1gj3eSy4uPit0

      That’s not the same as which cases were vaccinated, but it tells you something significant. There are, however, THREE categories for PCR results that I would like to see: “wild” “vaccine” and “mutant.” Dr. Wakefield warned us long since that measles was BOUND to mutate, and indeed it HAS elsewhere in the world to “Type D.”

      Nutrition is indeed an EMERGENCY need there, and the population is small so it won’t cost too much to completely protect ALL the vulnerable individuals. VACCINES however will prove completely valueless and actually detrimental to overall mortality, based on Dr. Aaby’s work in the sub-Saharan Africa region, which is similar demographically.

      There should also be a priority requirement for ELIMINATING the use of Paracetamol, which may well be primarily responsible for the death rate. This was definitely true 100 years ago during the so-called Spanish Flu pandemic, when Bayer’s “miracle drug” aspirin was largely responsible for the death rate (based on actual symptom-matching and known over-prescribing behavior.)

    1. Careful – this is NOT a population that has a long history with measles, like America, where what you said USED to be true. The native population is largely measles-naive, and thus more susceptible to fatal complications. But the most likely culprit is the pHARMa medication being dispensed freely, Paracetamol, which is almost certainly being abused, and is responsible for over 100,000 detahs annually in the USA.

  3. If they think vaccinating such malnourished children is useful, NOT SO.

    Instead, give them some nourishing foods first.

  4. I saw that several of the news outlets used this quote,

    “Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccine expert at New Zealand’s University of Auckland, said the Samoan government halted its immunization program for several months last year after two infants died from a medical mishap involving a vaccine.”

    But could not find any other documentation stating what the mishap was?
    Do any of you know?

    peace~

    1. Two children died on the same day in 2018 after being vaccinated with MMR vaccine. It was subsequently claimed that the vaccine had been made incorrectly by one of the nurses. The nurses were convicted and are apparently now jailed.

      Not many people believe this is the true story though as children had died after the MMR in Samoa before.

    2. The article linked in my previous post refers to the MMR vaccine saying “Ministry of Health says it has an “excellent safety record”.”

      This actually isn’t true as there has never been scientific safety testing to prove this statement. And anyone who has seen the #VaxXed and #VaxXedII documentaries will know that MMR is dangerous; particularly to children with dark skin… Africans, Aborigines, Maori, Samoans etc.

      Vaxxed: From cover up to catastrophe trailer: https://youtu.be/XIRXxEYnkxA

      Vaxxed II: The people’s truth trailer: https://youtu.be/CGZHifUs7KY

  5. I wonder why there have been so many cases of measles in Samoa. Sounds fishy. That measles “outbreak” was caused somehow.

  6. Those babies that are getting packaged milk instead of being breastfed are at such great risk for so many health issues.

  7. American Samoa has a minimum wage of $4. Territories are often utilized by politicians in get-rich schemes, but receive little support. Various territorial Canneries in which “Reps” invested caused them to vote against increasing minimum wage. Sorry, Charlie!!
    _ Since Americans refuse to get off their circus phones and riot, you WILL be enslaved. Your grandkids are being trained not to know the difference.
    _ But everything is rosy. The artificial intelligence of TV said so. Stop being a denier. Have you submitted to the sell-out, mom, dad?

  8. Just imagine how many deaths and serious health problems of all kinds they would prevent if they fixed their malnutrition problem instead of enacting forced vaccination. Measles would be a benign and beneficial infection.
    With so many reports of deaths from MMR in various poor countries it can be expected to just bring more suffering to Samoa.

  9. Vaccines Did Not Save Us – 2 Centuries Of Official Statistics

    This is the data the drug industry do not want you to see. Here 2 centuries of UK, USA and Australian official death statistics show conclusively and scientifically modern medicine is not responsible for and played little part in substantially improved life expectancy and survival from disease in western economies.

    https://childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/graphs/

  10. MARCH 7, 2019 MMR Vaccine ACTUALLY Causes Measles — Journal Of Clinical Microbiology — Rapid Identification Of Measles Virus Vaccine Genotype By Real-Time PCR

    Eleven (11) researchers can’t be wrong, or can they? It all depends on who finances a research project and for what specific merchandising or propaganda agenda was to be established.

    https://www.naturalblaze.com/2019/03/mmr-vaccine-actually-causes-measles-journal-of-clinical-microbiology-rapid-identification-of-measles-virus-vaccine-genotype-by-real-time-pcr.html

  11. All of these comments and an article and no one mentioned Vitamin A deficiency or that these children were treated with acetamoniphen.

  12. Given that they know malnourished children are more likely to die giving them vaccines vaccines in stead of nutrition is tantamount to murder.

  13. I agree with Julie – that there is a major component ** in MY opinion – that added to the outbreak and injuries. IT HAD To HAPPEN. To prove a point. Poor nutrition, poor clean water source, lack of proper refrigeration, bad shipment of product? Can and probably DID ADD to the high numbers. Vitamins – good food, proper sanitation – etc all have an impact on health. They chose this region because it was primed. Makes you wonder if those that claim there may have been other viruses spread throughout the area weeks before….may have happened? sad. Measles are NOT killer illnesses. Virus injected into compromised immune systems – are.

  14. In my opinion this “outbreak” was introduced to this relatively isolated community by the very vaccines intended to prevent measles. The indigenous community has very low historical resistance to this disease, and it was criminal for the authorities to introduce and mandate these vaccinations. And worse yet, to shift blame to those individuals proposing restraint and alternatives, as if THEY somehow brought this virus to the islands! History will adversely judge the pharmaceutical industry, those medical “professionals”, and politicians responsible for this.

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