it's hard to remember life before covid. but before the pandemic, this stadium, the mercedes-benz stadium in atlanta, on any given sunday would have been filled with 70,000-plus fans sitting side by side, cheering, shoulder to shoulder. but those stands and this feel are empty. no longer a sports stadium, t now a mass vaccination side for

covid-19. what they're doing here and in maces like it across the country is key to getting us out of this devastating pandemic that has taken more than half a million american lives. despite that incredible loss of life, polls are showing about a third of americans are still hesitant or downright unwilling to get a covid-19 vaccine. the anti-vaccine movement has had a long history. before covid history we were invested in filming a documentary about vaccine hesitan hesitancy. now more than a year in the pandemic, we thought that was more important than ever for you to see. this is a cnn special report" the truth about vaccines." measles is making a come back. >> the nations is in a public health emergency. >> this is the epicenter.

>> akin to taking a pipe bomb and throwing it in a busy times square subway. >> this was a public health nightmare. what do you do? >> i've never seen anything quite like this. traveled all over the world, seen outbreaks in refugee camps in haiti and pakistan and jordan, but in the united states in brooklyn, an outbreak this bad? i never thought it was going to happen. now i realize just how vulnerable we are. >> this is yours, right? >> hundred percent. >> his hospital was on the front lines of the biggest measles outbreak in the united states in decades. >> what are you looking for? >> he's also a appear to young children, raising them in the name neighborhood hardest hit by the disease. >> i'm with my children

trick-or-treating and i get a phone call from our infectious disease nurse that the child we saw the day prior who was potentially a measles patient was actually positive for the measles virus. >> how bad is it? >> it not only makes you sick at that moment but it kind of rewrites your immune system. it destroys immunity. >> measles causes pneumonia. measles can kill you. >> it's one of the most contagious pathogens anywhere on the earth. i had measles right now and i left this room and two hours later someone come in her who hasn't been immunized, a 90% chance of getting it. they just hang out in the air in these little droplets. people died from the measles

in dwooint. because vaccines were able to do something which is hardly ever done, which is actually to eliminate a disease. we eliminated measles in the united states in 2000. all of a sudden, everything changed. >> that measles outbreak is spreading. >> health officials say the tension and outbreak could have been avoided with measles shots. >> everyone heard about disneyland. 147 people got the measles. >> officials are tackling the worst outbreak. >> mogadishu has become an outbreak area for the measles. >> the somali american community, a drum beat. >> not a record to break. we have reached a 20-year high in measles cases. >> 31 states, more than 1200 people get the measles.

>> more measles cases are being reported in new york city. >> new york declares a public health emergency. >> the fourth largest city in the united states and it's really diverse, so people are traveling around the world and then they're coming back too brooklyn. they bring infectious disease back to an area where people aren't vaccinated. this just spreads like wildfire. this outbreak started in october of 2018. one child went to school and gave the measles to every single unvaccinated child in the school who went home and gave it to all their family. >> ultra orthodox jewish neighborhoods in brooklyn like williamsburg. religious exemptions allow parents not to vaccinate their children, but at the same time, religious communities were also

prime targets for disinformation campaigns. >> the community that tends to live in relatively dense living quarters to have a lot of interactions with extended family gathering, a lot of congregating in synagogues. it's the kind of community in which a spark of disease has the potential to spread very quickley. >> you weren't surprised ? misinformation being spread around the neighborhood is taking its cole. >> spread by whom? >> in early 2014 a pam let began appearing on people's door steps

throughout williamsburg put out by an organization that called itself patients educating and advocating for children's health. when you look inside, there are sensational claims, tales from parents who claim that vaccines are responsible for all sorts of illnessings and disabilities in their children. it was a real mystery to figure out who was behind this propaganda. >> peach has reportedly changed its name since then, but organize esrs remain anonymous. >> we're seeing a lot more patients now than we have in the past. we've seen patients who in the past who would gladly accept vaccines with the conversation, now deny them wholeheartedly. >> it was not about religion. this community was targeted by anti-vaxxers. they released this document they mailed to thousands of

households that talked about vaccines and their link to diseases like autism really based on no data but rather on false sooinds. >> neighborhoods in borough park and williams burg brooklyn were left in crisis mode. in order to get the fire under control schools were temporarily shut down. you were threat wnld a fine if you didn't comply. perhaps most importantly new york banned religious exemptions. more on that later. coming up, one man whose work may have helped start the modern day anti-vaccine movement. and who was behind that anti-vaks pamphlet. >> it's a beautiful document completely full of lies.

look at that scuffed up wall. embarrassing you. that wall is your everest. but not any more. today let's paint. behr. exclusively at the home depot. (burke) phone it in to 1-800-farmers to get policy perks, like a home and auto-bundle discount.

(man) i'm phoning it in and just saved twenty percent. (burke) get your policy perks by calling 1-800-farmers. go ahead, phone it in. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ the harry's razor is not the same. our razors have five german engineered blades designed to stay sharp, so your eighth shave is as smooth as your first. and we never upcharge you for high quality. harry's. not all 5g networks are created equal. and at harrys.com. ♪ harry's.

t-mobile america's largest and fastest 5g network. (brad) apartments-dot-com ha scoured the earth to find the most listings. and that means the most pet-friendly listings for pet loving renters. so you might say that we've brought more joy to more sweet, innocent and adorable little creatures than any other site. (employee) ow, stop it. (brad) with the most listings, you'll most definitely find the most-right place on apartments-dot-com. (brad vo) watch out, juice box. (brad) apartments-dot-com. the most popular place to find a place. finally, a make-up made... just for us. age perfect foundation by l'oréal paris a super hydrating serum enriched with vitamin b3, in a lightweight formula it doesn't settle into your lines. age perfect foundation by l'oréal paris we are worth it. - [announcer] welcome to intelligent indoor grilling with the ninja foodi smart xl grill.

just pick your protein, select your doneness, and let the grill monitor your food. it also turns into an air fryer. bring outdoor grilling flavors indoors with the grill that grills for you. ♪ this is a cold call. ♪ yeah, what y'all want? will you turn to cold washing with tide? tide cleans better in cold than the bargain brand in hot. so, mr. t can wash his hanes tees in cold. that's true mr. t. i pity the fool who don't turn to cold. ahh. those one name at the top of the list. who is andrew wakefield? >> he's a british gastro sbes tibl southern who posted in the lancet in 1998. >> he said no link had been proven but he asserted that there could be a correlation

between autism and the mmr vaccine. that's the vaccine that can prevent measles, mumps and rubella and has been saving lives for over a half century. >> i never real thought about vaccines as a cause until the andrew wakefield paper was publ published. >> now, that was more than two decades ago and at the same time allison singer was raising a young child with severe autism. >> i agreed that we needed to do studies, we needed to look at whether the increase in vaccines was related to autism. >> it's why she found a research organization. she's been leading the organization for more than a decade and her daughter jodi is now 24. >> i had a brother diagnosed with autism, so i grew up in the autism world.

we thought that autism was caused by bad parenting, and my mother was told that my brother's autism was her fault. >> my goodness. >> she was called a refrigerator mother and was too cold to bond with my brother. so i went for genetic testing and talked to my obstetrician. i asked if it was jeanette irk. she said no, don't worry. of course i had a child and she was diagnosed with autism. >> measles, mumps and rubella given together may be too much. >> the fact it was published in the lancet. when it came time to make decisions about having her vaccinated, i squared off the mmr and looking back, i feel very betrayed by the lancet. >> the impact of the andrew

wakefield paper came around just as i became a medical reporter. for the last 20 years i've be talking about this issue. >> is autism on the rise and are childhood vaccinations to blame? >> the number of vaccines that a child gets today compared to 20, 30 years ago has almost tripled. >> some parents believe something in the vaccine is causing autism. the cdc says no scientific link. >> are we ready to say that childhood vaccines do not cause autism? >> there have been at least 15 very be scientific studies in the institute of medicine who have searched this out and they have concluded that there is no association between vaccines and autism. >> the knew study provides there is no other evidence links. i've reported on dozens of studies involving millions of

children. none of them have found a link between vaccines and autism. we're tying the scrutiny started to turn on the researcher illinois. >> we're with wakefield. we're with wakefield. >> in 2010, everything came crashing down around andrew wakefield. the lancet said quote it's clear that several elements are incorrect. the lancet retracted that paper 12 years later saying that several elements of the paper by wakefield are incorrect. j the doctor who sparked fears that vaccinations could be linked to autism has now been bard from practicing medicine in england. >> the allegations are both unfounded and unjust. >> he had misrepresented biological data. he had misrepresented clinical

data. >> dove some sort of preconceived notion of a link between it and autism? >> absolutely not. that came from the parents, not me. >> make no mistake. that research has been done. there is now a mountain of evidence that shows no causal link between vaccines and autism. studies on hundreds of thousands of children have shown this. in fact, retchers are finding differences on brain scans as early as six months obvious age. that's before the mmr vaccine would have been given, and those brain scans can also predict which infants will be highly likely to develop autism. >> if autism is diagnosed that early, that should really put this whole vaccine debate-autism debate to relgs. >> you would think. when you do vaccines, you're not

doing anything to reduce the chance of autism. you're absolutely increasing the risk that that child could contract and potentially die from a vaccine-preventable disease. >> why do the wakefield paper rif on? >> i think it's fear. he put a scary idea into people's heads. once you do that, it's hard to get it out. >> coming up -- a new yorker who went to war against the anti-vaxxers. >> if our health care providers don't do something, who will? >> and later -- >> my first instinct was to put up my hand and i didn't die. at panera, we make dinner easy... and cheesy. order our delicious mac and cheese for dinner tonight with delivery or pick-up. only at panera. look at that scuffed up wall.

embarrassing you. that wall is your everest. but not any more. today let's paint. behr. exclusively at the home depot. darrell's family uses gain flings now so their laundry smells more amazing than ever. isn't that the dog's towel? hey, me towel su towel. more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze in every gain fling. discover the replenishing power of new pronamel mineral boost. teeth need natural minerals to keep enamel healthy, strong, and white. but every day, acidic food and drink can wash these minerals away, weakening and dulling enamel over time. pronamel mineral boost protects teeth by working with your mouth to boost absorption of calcium and phosphate which naturally strengthens enamel. pronamel mineral boost helps keep teeth strong, white, and protected from sensitivity. new pronamel mineral boost ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy.

whoo-hoo! great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. [sfx: psst psst] and nutrients to allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! all good

it's moving day. and while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? ...delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today.

in some ways, this should be a short documentary, right? people should get vaccinations. i've seen this armed the world. here, where they have a choice, they have an option, too many people, is turns out, aren't getting a vaccination. in april 2019, the new york city mayor declared a public health emergency. >> get the measles vaccine. >> making measles vaccines mandatory in certain zip codes.

the virus had hit the up tra orthodox jewish community in williamsburg hardest. >> people describe there this as an insular community. do you think there was targeting because it was insular? >> what i do know is that over the course of this outbreak, they were targeted by robocalls. >> these people anonymously started producing en masse to the tune of 32,000 door to door, synagogue-to synagogue booklets of pseudo science. >> it's about advocating for children's health, right? how do you battle that? >> it's a beautiful document completely full of lies. >> this was issued by parnds educatesing and advocating for children's health. cnn was unable to contact the anonymously led group.

>> they leave innocuous language, but in fact their message is actually one that's deprives kids of safe and effective vaccines. they use this image of a gun with a vaccine needle at the end. i'm like, no. that's not -- that's not what the vaccine is not. vaccine is not a deadly weapon. >> a group of jewish of the docks nurss and released their own magazine, parents informed and educated. >> the level of misinformation was huge. the anti-vaccine merck in the orthodox community is a very pell-oiled machine. they had their magazines. they had their phone hotlines. they started hosting events, and what we realized was that that was really effective, so we started using their method. >> they are fierce in their

believes -- >> nurse prak tissuer went to war with the anti-vaxxers spreading misinformation. >> we responded to the pooech magazine and it was not meant to be called pie but it stuck. >> it was about the jewish nurse. >> they looked at cancer and auto immune disorders. >> she rallied a team of health care providers to host forums to field questions and to train doctors and nurses to community better with parents, who are hesitant about vaccines. >> what motivated you to do it? >> i saw this huge hole in the community of this among deficit. and if i like if our health care providers don't do something, then who will? >> where is the anti-vaccine information coming from? what's pushing inspiring it motivating it?

>> people keep asking me and i don't know the answer. there's no leadership in orthodox judaism that says it's ok not to vaccinate your children. >> do you think what happened here could happen anywhere in the united states? >> i certainly do. you contribute to fear as parents, it can happen anywhere. >> i was right! >> it has to be not only talking but also listening. some parents, some individuals who were vaccine his tants, that's what we want to call them, they're scared. you know, they're thinking, gosh, this scares me. i don't know if this is the right thing to do, and i understand that as a parent. we received an e-mail from a family that lost their five-year-old boy ten days -- >> she runs the organization families fighting flu.

>> as you can tell by his smile, he was just so excited to go to kindergarten. i had absolutely no idea how change dangerous flu was. joseph was at the time healthy five years old. he was attending kindergarten. and he became sick. he was hospitalized for ten days. he coded, and they worked on him for over 35 minutes. then the attending physician came in to the room i was in and i remember seeing her come to the doorway and she was sobbing. my first instinct was to put up my hand. and i said he didn't die. he said i need you to come in here with me. it was the nurse giving him chest compressions. and the doctor looked at me and said i want you to talk to him. i walked over to joseph's side and i held his hand and when i

just remember the attending, she was standing to our right and she just stopped. she said, i'm so sorry. and nothing prepares you for that. nothing prepares you for that. >> five-year-old joseph was one of thousands of americans who died of the flu that year. that swine flu became a global through pandemic and hundreds of thousands of people died armed the globe. >> i remember her saying to me he's the 85th child to die from flu this year. i looked at her and i said what are you talking about? healthy kids don't die from fedexcup. unfor flu. >> it's hard to hear. >> it is. but joseph's not alone. >> there's another part to the story. that is that joseph did get a flu shot. it just wasn't protective against the h1n1 strain. >> on average the flu vaccine is

40 to 60% effective. why should you bother? anything above zero is better than zero. if you don't get vaccinated, you have zero protection. when i get my vaccines, i think about it as i'm not just doing this to protect myself. i'm not even just doing this to protect my family. i'm doing it to protect other people, because somebody was my joseph's patient zero, somebody passed that flu virus to my son and he died as a result of it. and i don't ever want to be somebody else's patient zero. >> coming up -- potential patient zeros. >> my group believing vaccines cause autism, the whole family came down with coronavirus. this is something that completely snuck up on us. ♪ ♪ ♪

hey google, turn up the heat. ♪ ♪ ♪ - [announcer] welcome to intelligent indoor grilling with the ninja foodi smart xl grill. just pick your protein, select your doneness, and let the grill monitor your food. it also turns into an air fryer. bring outdoor grilling flavors indoors with the grill that grills for you. finally, a make-up made... just for us. age perfect foundation by l'oréal paris a super hydrating serum enriched with vitamin b3, in a lightweight formula it doesn't settle into your lines. age perfect foundation by l'oréal paris we are worth it. my name is austin james. as a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. that's why i use the freestyle libre 14 day system. with a painless, onesecond scan i can check my glucose without fingersticks.

now i'm managing my diabetes better and i've lowered my a1c from 8.2 to 6.7. you can do it without fingersticks, too. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. and visit freestyle libre.us to try it for free. the harry's razor is not the same. our razors have five german engineered blades designed to stay sharp, so your eighth shave is as smooth as your first. and we never upcharge you for high quality. harry's. available in store and at harrys.com. to prove our aa battery is the world's longest-lasting, we tested it against our competitor's best battery. (meowing) (clicking) and energizer ultimate lithium wins again! energizer, backed by science. matched by no one.

i knew the risk of damage from the vaccine is greater than the risk of damage from the disease. >> these children have vaccine autism. >> when the anti-vax community started as a fringe element, it was a strategic thing not to talk about it. they're thinking that will just give it oxygen. >> but then what was once fringe went mainstream. the internet and social media punt the anti-vax movement on steroids.

>> federation sees the ssks, societies, the academic societies, all kind of stuck to their guns on the old strategy, don't give it oxygen, and that had a disastrous effect because it left a vacuum that allowed this to really flourish. >> a lobby he said that has become well constructed, well planned and highly effective. >> the target to specific ethnic groups where they think they can make headway. >> alarming news about the worst outbreak of measles in minnesota. >> they did this with the somali community in minneapolis in 2019. >> listen to your rights. >> they held town hall meetings, teleconferences, etc., convinced the immigrant community that vaccines cause autism. they responded by not vaccinating their kids. >> the result, a measles

epidemic. 21 kids ended up in the hospital. it was the same targeted strategy used in brooklyn in recent years. >> i'd like to become everybody here to the harlem vaccine forum 2019. >> they now fear it's being used again in harlem, new york. >> what we are doing is very powerful state coercion. >> we are told that we're misinformed -- >> they're going to go up to african-american community where they're calling vaccines the next tuskegee experiment. >> never let another tuskegee happen again! [ cheers and applause ] >> the tuskegee experience dates back to 1932. the u.s. government had

recaruthed 600 african-american men into a study. what the men didn't realize was that a treatment for syphilis was being with held from them so doctors could track the disease and dissect their bodies once they die. it was gruesome and it was litigated for decades. >> did they give you any compensation? >> after 25 years, they gave me $25. >> the survival study participants did eventually receive an out of court settlement and an apology from president clinton in the 19 nights. >> the united states did something that was wrong, deeply, profoundly, morally wrong. >> a legacy of mistrust in vaccines and public health officials still runs deep in the african-american community. and the anti-vax movement knows

it and they exploit it. >> if you're vaccinatesing your children for that free and appropriate education, think again. >> nowadays, anti-vax reach goes way beyond these marisnick and racial communities. >> it seems just about anyone could be targeted. here's the thing. they might not even know it. >> is there a type of person who is more likely to be an anti-vaxxer? >> there have been a few studies. as a gem rule, it's a caucasian, upper class where the patients are college educated. >> educated enough to know how to do a google or yahoo search but not educated to know what they're googling or yahooing because of this flood of anti-information coming out of the vaccine movement.

>> meantime christian o'meara. her story is probably going to sound familiar. she's a mother who says she's just trying to do the best for her three children. >> i bent over backwards to make sure my children were breast-feeding as long as they possibly could, all these positive lifestyle habits. definitely social media was where i found the virtual tribe. >> a virtual tribe, all too willing to create doubt. >> my children were not vaccinated. i was questioning whether or not the number of vaccines were necessary, whether or not the vaccine schedule was healthy for children. >> she got her answers. but kristin had to learn the hardway. >> the whole entire family came down with coronavirus. which there's a vaccine for that. this is something that totally snuck up on us, that i wasn't

expecting. >> if you talk to her now, she will say that she was lucky, lucky it was roto virus rather than something that could have been deadly. she decided to look at the data. when she did, she got all three of her daughters up to date on their vaccines. >> this question i asked was simple -- >> this man's mother also got caught up in the anti-vax noise on the internet. >> my mom, she was misinformed and misled by sources that convinced her that if she was a loving parent, she wouldn't vaccinate. >> but for ethan, the choice became deeply personal during his senior year of high school. >> i was legally an adult. so i sat back and went ok it's on my shoulders. if i make a decision that hurts somebody else, the only blame that can be placed is on me. >> looking for vaccines, young ethan turned to the internet. >> i turned to reddit.

i wanted a couple of thousand responses. people were saying they were so proud of me for knowing that i need to take a stand against my mom's beliefs. >> the teen who got vaccinated against his parents' will will testify in front of congress. >> she'd turn to anti-vax looking for her defense rather than health initials and medical sources. >> to this day his mother believes her son is wrong. >> my son east app has no idea the fire he's feeding. one day it will. my heart breaks for him when he realizes what he's done. >> coming up -- holding the country accountable. >> i have to give him a failing grade. it's affecting the public health of the united states.

this looks different. it is. show me. just hit record! see that? you're filming in 8k. that's cinema quality. so... you can pull photos straight from video. impressive. but will it last a whole trip? you'll have battery all day. and then more. this is different. told you. ♪

told you. it only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous. tide pods child-guard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. to close, twist until it clicks. tide pods child-guard packaging. [sfx: psst psst] allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! all good (brad) apartments-dot-com ha scoured the earth to find the most listings. and that means the most pet-friendly listings for pet loving renters. so you might say that we've brought more joy to more sweet, innocent and adorable little creatures than any other site. (employee) ow, stop it. (brad) with the most listings, you'll most definitely find the most-right place on apartments-dot-com.

(brad vo) watch out, juice box. (brad) apartments-dot-com. the most popular place to find a place. to prove our aa battery is the world's longest-lasting, we tested it against our competitor's best battery. (meowing) (clicking) and energizer ultimate lithium wins again! energizer, backed by science. matched by no one. open talenti and raise the jar. to gelato made from scratch. raise the jar to all five layers. raise the jar to the best gelato... you've ever tasted. out here, you're more than tal just a landowner.r.

y you're a gardener. a landscaper. a hunter. because you didn't settle for ordinary. same goes for your equipment. versatile, powerful, durable kubota equipment. more goes into it. so you get more out of it. . no segregation, no discrimination. >> you could become like in any political situation, a target of

hate. >> did you happy that hatred? >> no, i didn't happy that hatred. it surprised me. >> and honestly, it surprised me as well. he's after all a respected pediatrician, a vaccine researcher, and an advocate. >> i get hate mail i would say on a weekly basis. i've been physically threatened and physically harassed. i've had three legitimate death threats, the kind that get investigated by the fbi. >> over the years critics have called him everything from a terrorist to a mouthpiece for big pharma. pushing advantage seeps because he receives profits from the one he developed. one post said he should be prosecuted for crimes against our children. another -- i will handing you by your neck until you are dead. he tells everyone he's not motivated by money but driven by memories.

>> i mean, my parents were children of the 20s and 30s. they saw diphtheria as a killer of teenagers. they saw polio as a crippler. i had all that. i know what they felt like. >> it's that connection to the story that dr. paul shares in common with dr. peter. >> looking at the screen -- >> a world renown virologist, researcher and vaccine advocate, he also has threats to his safety and his life. >> dr. peter hotez, another vaccine expert needs a security escort. >> the central tenet of the anti-vaccine media empire is to claim vaccines cause autism, so we're in a perfect position to refute all that. perfect, because it's personal. you see, dr. hotez's daughter

rachel has autism. he authored an intimate book called "vaccines did not cause rachel's autism." >> if we don't step up and do it, nobody will. >> i want you to give it a try. >> when rachel was born squaentdly diagnosed with autism, were there any flickers of the i miss something? >> i did. i did blame myself. i really did. and that's the reason, i think that peter did such a deep dive into this. because he had to convince me in our nightly walks that it wasn't my fault, that autism was way too complex a disease. there are other scientific reasons involved. >> vaccines are probably the most tested and safe pharmaceutical interventionis that we know about. their safety record is unparalleled. the likelihood that you're going

to suffer a severe reaction from a vaccine that's going to land you in the hospital or worse is far less than being struck by lightning. >> less than one in a million. but it is still that rare case which adds fuel to the fire of the anti-vax movement. such as the story of hannah. at 19 months old she received her childhood vaccines. the day before, she had been playful, interactive, communicative. after receiving the vaccines she became irritable and lethargic. months after the vaccines she was diagnosed with encephalopathy and was on the autism spectrum. they sued and won. it was confusing for a lot of people. >> the effect of the decision was to place that scary idea

back into family's minds that oh, maybe there is a link between vaccines and autism. what the court decided in no weighing changed the studies. it doesn't negate the mountain of evidence. >> certainly not anti-vaccine, but clearly what happened with our daughter was following a series of vaccinations that -- >> so -- >> in july. >> the federal government conceded that her autism, her diagnosis was aggravated by vaccines. >> i wouldn't have believed it was possible. >> so what you believe is that hannah had some sort of predisposition and then the vaccines tipped her over the edge in developing autism? what is your belief now? >> i don't think vaccines are the only way you can tip over a child like hannah to regress and have encephalopathy and regress

into autism. >> while hannah's father doesn't really believe vaccines cause autism, the government settlement is the only message the anti-vax community seems to hear. how do you think the scientific community has done the centers for disease control and prevention. how have they done at educating people about vaccines and the lack of connection to autism. >> unfortunately, i have to give them a failing grade. the reason for that is we're not hearing from the leadership of our scientific societies. >> it's true, we don't really hear much from them, but there are online resources if families seek out the information. it's very different from what you hear on the other side. >> well what you've got is an aggressive anti-vaccine lobby

that is using a misinformation campaign to mislead parents into thinking vaccines cause autism or other things. as a convention, parents are not vaccinating their kids. this anti-vaccine movement, it's now so main stleem it's affecting the public health of the united states. >> coming up -- >> what's to say this won't happen again? maybe the only way we get scared enough is when children start to die. get 5g coverage that goes yard. t-mobile. the leader in 5g. sleek curly we all want to fight frizz garnier fructis anti-frizz serum argan oil plus kera-system

up to 72 hours frizz control 97% humidity protection fructis anti frizz serum by garnier, naturally! (burke) phone it in to 1-800-farmers to get policy perks, like a home and auto-bundle discount. (man) i'm phoning it in and just saved twenty percent. (burke) get your policy perks by calling 1-800-farmers. go ahead, phone it in. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ the harry's razor is not the same. our razors have five german engineered blades designed to stay sharp,

so your eighth shave is as smooth as your first. and we never upcharge you for high quality. harry's. available in store and at harrys.com.

the u.s. hmeasles outbreak continues to spread. >> for a public health official, there's no greater nightmare that a measles epidemic. to put it back in the bottle has to be the hardest things you can do. >> as hard as the brooklyn outbreak was, officials estimate that the misinformation might have been even worse. it seems reckless, dangerous, arguably immoral, so why are anti-vaxxers willing to take this risk? >> i'm not sure it matters much what the motivation is. you just have to stop it. >> something which health officials were finally able to do about a year after it all began.

>> some parents -- >> a lot of parents are vaccinating the children. i would say these are mostly the vaccine hesitant. now they want the children to start school on time, they dragged their heels and had the kids vaccinated. >> the outbreak is definitively done. >> on september 3rd, 2009, new york city declared the end of its measles outbreak. it took mandatory vaccination in certain areas. it took more than 500 workers more than 6 million dollars to contain it. 654 confirmed case of measles and the vast majority of them were children. 52 hospitalations and 16 people treated in the icu. thankfully, there were zero deaths. what's to say this won't happen again? >> it's going to happen anne again. >> it's going to? >> yes.

i can almost guarantee it. >> it's the anti-vaxxers that do all the talking. >> they get hurt. >> he said the anti-vax meg phone is loud and its pockets are deep. >> it's a cottage industry of false hope. look on some of the websites that are anti-vaccine. they have a variety of treatments for autism. it's an industry. it was backed by a group of people who were financially benefitting from it. whether it was through these dietary supplements or the special cleansers that would pull metal out of your body, and it was just really unfair to parents who desperately wanted to do something, anything to help their children. these people were perfectly willing to take their money. >> ironically, these are products that have not met the same rigorous scientific standards that vaccines have.

>> vaccines are held to the highest standard of safety of anything else. >> i mean, typically, those programs take years to develop, and then and only then do vaccines get licensed and recommend. >> even after they're on the mark, that scrutiny continues. >> the vaccine safety data ling constantly monitors who's getting a vaccine and who's not. vaccines are held to the highest standard of efficacy. they need to be. ensure that the people you're counting on in this country are as skeptical as they need to be to monitor it. >> skoept cal and committed to safety. because they know one simple undeniable fact. >> vaccines have saved our lives. we live years longer than we did a hundred years ago. one of the rchbs is vaccines. >> saving lives is what every is hoping for.

we're in a race. the virus versus the vaccine. and vaccine hesitancy is one of those things that threat epps to slow that down. social media companies are trying to help. facebook and instagram have banned vaccination misinformation. whether it's high profile people publicly taking the vaccine or generations of united states presidents making personal appeals to the american people to get vaccinated. doctors like paul off et and peter hotez continue to be vaccine warriors. they know if not enough people get the vaccine, we're never truly going to get clear of this worldwide nightmare. they're willing to risk their lives against the death threats as have other scientists like anthony fauci, hoping and doing anything they can to make sure that science and trust in science ultimately wins the

race. i'm dr. son jay gupta. thanks for watching. on this episode of united shades of america, we're talking shades of white supremacy. we formed the show in early 2020, weeks before covid-19 hit, a month before the police in minneapolis killed george floyd and before all the protests that followed. for many of us had ever heard of defunding the police and before the president and his croneys used racism to describe the coronavirus, which led to a rise in hate crimes in