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10 TIME September 3–10, 2018

TheBrief News

GOOD QUESTION

Why is measles

returning to some

places and not others?

BY NOW, MEASLES OUGHT TO BE OPTIONAL.

As long as parents are conscientious and

governments are competent, no child has to

contract the sometimes fatal disease again.

But across Europe and in the U.S., that’s not

what’s happening.

According to the World Health Organiza-

tion (WHO), there were more than 40,

cases of measles—including 37 deaths—

across Europe in just the irst six months of

2018. That’s a huge jump: in all of last year,
      there were 23,927 cases, and only 5,273 the
      year before. More than half of those 2018
      cases were found in Ukraine, while six other
      countries (Serbia, France, Italy, Russia,
      Georgia and Greece) have each topped
      1,000 cases. The U.S. numbers are less
      alarming—107 cases, across 21 states and the
      District of Columbia—but they too represent
      an uptick over the past few years, if still a long
      way from the 667 cases in 2014.
      The question remains why, more than half
      a century after the irst measles vaccine was
      licensed, we still must battle these epidemic
      wildires. Just as the numbers vary from place
      to place, so do the answers.
      In the U.S., much of the problem can be
      traced to a fraudulent 1998 study by Andrew
      Wakeield, a British doctor who has since been
      stripped of his license to practice medicine.
      After he linked the measles-mumps-rubella

vaccine to autism, the lie was spread in the

U.S. by celebrities like Jenny McCarthy.

Although 20 years of study have established

that no such link exists, vaccination rates

plummeted in the U.K.—as well as in the U.S.

and elsewhere—and have not fully recovered.

In Ukraine, the problem is of more recent

vintage. In 2008, the nation’s vaccination

rates were as high as 95%—the level needed

to establish herd immunity, or the ability

of a well-vaccinated public to protect the

unvaccinated handful by denying the virus

any carriers. By 2016, the number was down

to just 31%, partly as a result of war and unrest.

Making things worse, by law, government-

purchased vaccines have been available only

to children, leaving adults exposed.

In Italy, a bad situation—more than 2,

cases from January through June—was made

worse in August, when the upper house of

Parliament halted mandatory vaccinations

for kids entering nursery school or pre-K.

The move was seen as an anti-establishment

gesture by a populist government, but it came

at a public-health price.

Across Europe, WHO is working with

governments to step up immunization rates.

Ukraine especially is making progress, with a

push to vaccinate all children when they reach

the prescribed age and to double back and get

the kids who had been missed. Free vaccines

are now also available to at-risk adults.

Nearly all vaccines work—but only if

adults make smart decisions for dependent

children. When the adults fail, no matter

where that happens, it’s the kids who pay.

—JEFFREY KLUGER

MARRIAGE

Matrimonial mistakes

Winona Ryder revealed that she might have married Keanu Reeves, after a wedding in their 1992

ilmBram Stoker’s Draculaused a real priest. Here, other nuptial mishaps. —Abigail Abrams

WRONG NUMBER

In September 2017,

a man in London

mistakenly sent a

message to a woman

he did not know on

WhatsApp. Despite

the accidental intro,

they went on their

irst date that night

and got married three

months later.

DOWN IN FLAMES

A bride in Brazil in

May wanted to make

a grand entrance by

helicopter, but things

went wrong when it

crashed into a ield.

Miraculously unhurt,

she walked down the

aisle shortly after

stepping away from

the burning chopper.

REACTION VIDEO

A man visiting New

Mexico’s Sandia

Mountains in June

met a couple on

his way to the top

and was asked to

ilm their proposal.

The story went viral

after he mistakenly

ilmed his own happy

reaction instead.

NEWS

TICKER

California

Republican

indicted over

funds

The Justice Depart-

ment on Aug. 21

charged Representa-

tive Duncan Hunter

with using more than

$250,000 of campaign

funds for personal

expenses. He is the

second sitting Repub-

lican Congressman,

after Representative

Chris Collins, to be

indicted in August.

Iran, Russia

online

meddling

revealed

Facebook said on

Aug. 21 that it had

taken down 652

accounts, pages and

groups after discover-

ing they were linked

totargeted influence

campaigns by Iran. The

revelation came after

Microsoft said it had

thwarted an operation

by Russian hackers

targeting conservative

political groups and

think tanks in the U.S.

Trump rolls

back coal

regulations

The Trump Administra-

tion announced on

Aug. 21 that it would

scrap and replace

Obama-era regulations

on coal-fired power

plants.The new pro-

posal has been hailed

by the coal industry, but

Democratic states and

environmental groups

pledged to ight the

changes in the courts.

ZOETROPE/COLUMBIA TRI-STAR/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK