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The measles outbreak in the US came from the Philippines. And, thanks to stupid anti-vaxxers, we have several pockets of susceptible people right here in the US. It only takes one unvaccinated person traveling to the Philippines (or anywhere else where vaccination rates are low) to cause an outbreak in the US.

The situation in west Africa is pretty dire right now. Over a million children did not receive their measles vaccine because of Ebola. It will only take one recently exposed traveler from the Philippines (or the US) to spark a terrible epidemic that will probably kill more than Ebola ever has. The vaccination programs need to be implemented, now.

It is interesting that this is the second recent measles outbreak in the US that I know of traced back to the Philippines. An earlier Measles outbreak in 2014 in Ohio was not coming from some “undocumented”, i.e. illegal alien traveling into the country illegally but from an unvaccinated US citizen, in this case an unvaccinated Amish missionary (and yes some Amish do travel abroad, fly on airplanes, travel on busses and trains) who traveled to the Philippines on a missionary mission and who came back to the US infected with measles and ended up spreading it to nearly 400 people in Ohio before the outbreak finally was contained. And FWIW, the Amish are not, at least not in general anti-vaccination or against modern medicine although this can vary among the various Amish Sects.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/23/health/ohio-measles/

FWIW, France is another country where Measles cases are on the rise due to low vaccination rates and from where unvaccinated US travelers returning home to the US have brought it back with them.

In 2011, more than 30 countries in the WHO European Region reported an increase in measles, and France was experiencing a large outbreak. Most of the cases that were brought to the U.S. in 2011 came from France.

http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html

It goes without saying that we should protect our country and seal our borders from illegals coming into the country. But we can’t and shouldn’t seal our borders against all travel in and out of the country - legal travel - tourists, business travelers, etc.

And while I think getting vaccinated against preventable and sometimes deadly diseases is a very good idea, I am not for government mandated/forced vaccinations. But I also think not getting vaccinated should not be without consequences.

One of those consequences should be that if you come into the US even on a tourist or work VISA and even for unvaccinated US citizens who travel out of the US and travels to a country with a measles or any other communicable and or vaccine preventable disease outbreak, if you have not been, cannot prove your prior vaccination(s), upon return, you should be quarantined and subject to a medical exam until the incubation period has past.

FWIW we still do require medical examinations of legal immigrants coming into the US, including a check on vaccination records, although I question how rigorously it is enforced now days. It is certainly not enforced for the “undocumented”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_exclusion_of_immigrants#Vaccinations