NATIONAL NEWS:- Frustrated paramedic has taken to Facebook with a blunt message for anti-vaxxer parents.

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An Auckland paramedic had a brutal message for anti-vaxxer parents after transporting another measles patient to the hospital as New Zealand suffers through a devastating measles epidemic.

Ambulance Officer Brendan Peat shared a photo on Facebook of himself sitting in the back of an ambulance holding up a sign reading: ‘Please vaccinate’.

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The poignant message has since gone viral, receiving over 4,000 reactions and the same number of shares, as the number of confirmed cases of measles in Auckland reached 778 on Saturday.

Time for a plug as the outbreak slowly turns towards an epidemic, another one tonight. 616 cases of measles this year,…

Posted by Brendan Peat on Friday, August 23, 2019

Mr. Peat posted the warning early Saturday morning after transporting another measles patient to Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital, writing: ‘Time for a plug as the outbreak slowly turns towards an epidemic, another one tonight.”

The frustrated paramedic goes on to beg critics to “trust science” to stop the vicious disease from spreading.

“Please trust science, and vaccinate not only kids but adults too against such an easily preventable disease which is proven safe and effective,” he said.

Mr. Peat also claimed the aircon had been turned off in the children’s ward to “prevent the spread”.

According to the New Zealand Herald, experts warn the spread will continue unless immunization rates improve.

“Unless New Zealand can do more to improve our community immunity, to stop these cases continuing to spread to others, we are at significant risk of losing our [World Health Organisation (WHO)] elimination status,” Immunisation Advisory Centre director and GP Dr. Nikki Turner told the Herald.

Figures from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research showed nine out of ten people who contracted measles this year had not been vaccinated or did not know their vaccination status.

The rise of the anti-vaxxer movement earlier this year was widely blamed for the alarming resurgence in deadly measles outbreaks across the world, prompting an urgent warning from the WHO about the need for immediate action.

Figured released by the organization found Europe experienced a record number of people impacted by measles in 2018, with experts blaming anti-vaxxer messaging as the main driver behind the spike.

“Re-establishment of measles transmission is concerning. If high immunization coverage is not achieved and sustained in every community, both children and adults will suffer unnecessarily and some will tragically die,” warned Gunter Pfaff, the head of the WHO’s European Regional Verification Commission for Measles and Rubella Elimination.

Source - news.com.au
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