care. so we know these interventions work. they have been proven to work. so as a doctor, and a mother myself, i chose to make a difference, because it was the life of all these women and the death of one that inspire me do my work. today, anna would have been ten years older. and her daughter would have been ten years. so i do my work for them. thank you. [ applause ] >> that one really hit me. i gave birth seven months ago, and i was severely anemic throughout my pregnancy. so it just feels so recent, so relevant. and mary's work is so important. thank you, mary. next up we have a bit of a

shift. this fella is a doctor, but not like the other doctors you've just heard. he is co-founder of biosense technologies. and he is just a fountain of ideas. he came up to me a couple of minutes before we started, and he said, i have an idea. i thought, uh-oh, it is about the presentation and we are getting ready to go on, and he said, there should be a reef and it could happen between me and this other fellow. >> and i thought, this is mishkin, he has these ideas. you are lucky to hear from this infectious energetic human being. he was named after a character in a novel. and he is very glad nobody in primary school was into russian literature. here is mishkin. >> mishkin is -- [ inaudible ]

so i'm one of those guys who just loves technology. you know, the latest gadget. i have to look at it, how it works. i'm one of those guys. so in -- no, the people like me, i create marketing and marketing people, marketers, as incarnation of evil. and that is my picture. say the word. scare. big inventions. big ideas. so in 2006, i was very happy to get a chance to work for nokia in india. that was like a big thing for me. and nokia was really big in india at the time. 7 out of 10 phones were a nokia phone. so i had like hundreds of ideas buzzing. we can do this. the phone can have this. and this button here and have

this and that and this and that. and he sort of poured it out to my boss who listened patiently. and thought yeah, okay. then he said, mishkin, this time, the mobile phone business is not about mobile phones. i didn't quite get it. i was a young kid who liked technology and all that. slowly i started to understand. but it hit home to me once. i was in a shopping mall in south delhi, negotiating a contract, and i went out of his office. i was walking through the mall. and a nice big mall. very plush. i could see different brands. see big holdings. i could see people walking fast. getting into the shops. glass. it was wonderful.

and finally, i started getting it. everything moving in slow motion. like the matrix. i could see how it worked. i could see that it was not about technology. it was about the phones and washing machines. it was not about any of that at all. i could see that, patterns and kids running around and parents are looking in and they could see what was happening. and i could see their eyes light up. and i realized that they are not buying what is in the box. they are buying a new life. they are buying an idea, a hope. that their life will be better. different. that's what marketing has done to them. and this is not necessarily a pad thing. in india, this is changing the face of india.bpad thing. in india, this is changing the face of india.ad thing. in india, this is changing the face of india. so i walk out of the mall -- i still love technology, but something inside me change. i started thinking, what if we could use this idea, this hope, this marketing. and apply it to other stuff.

sanitation, water, energy. what if we do that. so a few years later, i happened to be working with a team of doctors. we had a big idea. a big technology idea. that we could use mobile phones and electronic devices to take scans where scans do not exist. so i eventually built a platform on android, that could do imaging for urine and blood strips. it could diagnose diabetes and other complications at less than 10 cents per test. we found the company. we took it to -- my doctor friends were like, let's get funding and suddenly, i realize that's the mall scene.

we will push this technology to people, let's build it together. so we essentially allowed local enterprise, we worked with localn't prilocaecal enterprises, we worked with people. so i realized it was not a big save the world idea, it was a small part after user story. so with this "matrix" scene, i get it -- i get young people with big ideas. mishkin, there is this thing to build. i just need $1 million to prove it. i put on my best keanu reeves

face and say, no. let me show you. thanks. [ applause ] >> thank you, keanu. wonderful talk. thank you so much. our next fellow and speaker is an amazing person. he is the founder of -- co-founder of ammany global works. the proud parent of four children. and he is also a coral director. but jacques also made a lasting mark in my heart when from literally the other side of the world he recited almost verbatim an article that courtney and i had written focused on dignify and design. since that time, every time we interact, jacques and i talk about the word dignity and what it means us to.

it is with no greater pleasure than right now, that i get to introduce, my very special friend, jacques. >> when we hear about -- in the news, it is all about genocide. women being raped. wars. and what about this tiny island? where i am from. of 250,000 people. that is building health care system, and driven by forgotten modernized people we call pygmies. nine years ago, my wife, a nurse, and i couldn't stand by while many people were dying from primitive diseases. we couldn't stand by while girl be married just to be taken away

from the family and given to men so they could be fed. we couldn't stand by. we couldn't just sit in new york and enjoy good life. we decided to go back. and the best way we thought to change and bring our contribution to this community was by building a -- we believe that by building that would provide many jobs to people. we believe that if people have job, they could take care of their families. three years later while exploring possibilities and to build -- we stumbled into a tiny village. we just learned that two children have died. and i asked why they died. women, who by the way, told me

she was invited in 1961 to my mom's wedding, told me, what do you mean? no one will look at us. no one will touch us. i couldn't believe that in 20th century, pygmies were still -- this still exist in the eyes of other people. in fact, pygmies believe they are not human. and other members of the community believe pygmies are not human. they are not seen, they are not heard. then i asked what they thought about this -- one said, we love the idea, but what if you built a dispensary for us. will we be treated like other human beings? like human being? i was shocked. it became clear to me that it is not what they want.

it is not what they thought was good for them. it is what they believe is good for them. they made it clear. the weaker the -- i talk to communities and made it clear that they were the only people who would have to be in their -- while they didn't have money, we decided that they had to use whatever they had. so we built the first clinic. and for the first time, the humans and nonhumans work together to build the first clinic. after we succeeded, we commit -- we commit to expand the clinic. i believe in a dignifying design. i believe that if we build in the community, a beautiful building that is part of the

community, that give them hope and believe in themselves. but we didn't have much land because the powerful land owners around was planted sugarcane and as some of us know, sugarcane plantation can be prime more mosquito that transmit malaria. so people leave, suffer from malaria. we did everything we could but could not take it away. we threaten to shut down clinic, we solved the problem. then one morning, i was waken up by a group of pygmies which said we just finished the job. and the clinic is safe. tle are not seen. they are not heard. they can't be because they don't exist. they don't pay taxes.

so who have been looked down, they brought this beautiful idea of building a clinic and i'm happy to note in august, a beautiful hut with running water, air condition on one kilometer radius. [ applause ] it is this determination. this courage. this belief this they also deserve being part of the community that wakes me up every morning and goes to see them. and that why i do what i do. thank you. [ applause ]

>> our next speaker is a very gentle soul. i had the pleasure of working with him on his writing over the last year and i've just been repeatedly touched by how gentle and insightful he is. he also likes to share really gross-out medical stories with me that freak me out. but most of the time, he's very gentle. he's a clinical direct over gundar university hospital. and his interesting fact, you can tell by now, we asked all of them one interesting fact, broke my heart. it is that he loves walking in the rain. so here he is. >> so, do you know this? we humans are in a battle with life. so here is the story. i was called on a medical

mission in 300 miles away where there is a holy school that accommodates deekons and search scholars. it is also home for poor. when my medical team arrived there, we were recognizing what was going on. many people were sick and they were along the church corridor. it was not an epidemic. it was an epidemic of born -- one of the priests told us, this is all the result of body lice infestation. we just spray bondy lice. we try to kill them on daily basis. we spray holy water on them.

but they continue killing us. how could this small creature could cause this much trouble, should be a question that -- this tiny hitch hikers live with humans for millennia. and in spite of all efforts to get rid of them, they went along the ride when human s conquered the globe. they migrate with humans. when humans evolve and lost their fur and start with clothes and preventing lice infestation, lice lost their wings. they flattened and adopt their new environment.

actually, lice tend to outsmart humans, their only host. so this live human interaction interweave with the germs, they can transmit. lice could cause itching and annoyance. but the germs they carry could cause -- that is what exactly happened in the church. an epidemic of a fever. the outbreak, louse born fever, is not known in any part of the world except in the high land

and in parts of sue dan. so with increasing dan. so with increasing migration, it is likely that the lice could reemerge and do be the next emerging infection. and it is becoming more conducive to lice but not for humans, as you know. so we should treat lice harder than ever. otherwise it will continue killing us. thank you. >> that man's smile and gleaming

teeth juks suppose with that and we will see. our next speaker is a managing director of fine doctors nigeria. we we first met a couple of years ago, she tried convince meg that lots of doctors are also helicopter pilots. i didn't think so. as you might notice when she steps up on stage and she is much taller than i would ever be comfortable walking on, safe walking on, ola reports that she loves shopping. ola. >> meet mr. mistifa.

he is 70 years poemd ceo of multinational company and he's also a billionaire. now, meet his girlfriend. she's 22 years old. she's broke as hell. and she's been dating him for the past six months. mr. mystifa, as you may have guessed, is her sugar daddy. and the bases of their sugar daddy relationship is, he takes responsibility for giving her various favors, money and gifts in exchange for, whatever he wants. you see, he dictates what she is getting. and he dictates what he wants. now, the weirdest thing i think about their relationship is that

mr. mystifa has a lost experience in business and economics and markets and could very, very easily empower candy to be a business person just like him. but instead, he keeps her on a sort of leash. giving her just enough to keep her happy. but never enough to prevent her from running back to him. i think there is a similar dynamic between the west and africa. every year there are policies and clinical protocols and best practices. copied and pasted directly and awkwardly into africa. often expensive, which makes them unsustainable. and inappropriate.

and very, very little given to the concept of reverse innovation. this is the ability of african entrepreneur oirs selves to develop solutions in not only our health care problems, but health care problems across the globe. in lots of parts of africa, we transact in shorts in marketplaces using our mobile phones. we have mobile wallets. and i can go up to a person selling meat or bread or rice in the rural market in the middle of nowhere and pay her with my mobile phone. here in aspen, i can't even buy a louis vuitton handbag with mobile money. that means that in this small area of mobile technology, we have actually managed to leapfrog over the west and start using technology that has not been adopted here before.

and i believe that if we can succeed in leapfrogging in this single area of mobile technology, then we can leapfrog in health care as well. i'm the founder and ceo the of west africa's -- every year we have rescues with planes and helicopters and our team of doctors. now, our service runs, what's cheaper and what's leaner, than our western counterparts. we've today think outside the box a lot when it came to medical equipment. when it came to keeping our operating costs low. and we operate primarily in nigeria. so we have quite dangerous terrain sometimes to recover and rescue people from.

now i really believe african ept preneurs in the next few years can join the league of general electric and met tronnic and oxy log to deliver the next generation of health care solutions and not just be recipients of aid or owners of trade. i also hear development community executives facing like, i have to put on my american accent now, okay. we're not the kind of organization that just gives them fish. we teach them how to fish. but my question to that, is what if i don't like fish. what if i want steak. the truth is that sugar daddy

relationships like this one are unsustainable and rarely stand the test of time. the relationship that is equal is what stands a fighting chance. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] >> all right. between louis vuitton and steak, we know what kind of lady this one is. all right. next up, we have jane otai. someone who i just have profound respect for. the kind of work she does. she is going to talk about it. we were on a panel earlier, and i'm just continually touched by the sort of direct service work that jane does and how she always centered those people, which she will of course do again today for you. she is senior program adviser at

tope dp o, which is related to johns hopkins. she loves cooking but has a hard time following western recipes buzz she can't find the ingredients in kenya. here she is. jane. >> i will speak very light and be able to tell what you keeps me awake. i work in nairobi. and in this community, there are about 60% of the population of nairobi and women and girls in this community have various information about health, generally, and especially family planning. so these are the women i interact with every week and everyday. and i think about it in my

sleep. and when illiterate women, i have to think about how i bring the message to them. in one of these meetings, i met kedra. kedra is a 26-year-old lady. but when you look at kedra, you would think she was 40 because she is worn out. she is very poor. and when she sneaks into one of these young mothers clubs, she comes with her little baby, f l actually 4 years old, but when you look at him you think he is 2 years because of malnutrition. so it hits me that many women hear about healthish ice, family plaping on regular television. but they need to interact with other women in order to really have information about family

planning. and we meet weekly with these women to talk aboutish ice of health, issues of child care. issues of family planning. issues of marital relationships and we talk to them every week and this message slowly comes down. but i found that there is a way that they can communicate with them and be -- in these meetings, we divide the women into like four groups and some groups have seven children. others five. three and two. and for those women who have many children, soon they run out of the steaks. because they are not able to provide the food, clothing, education for their children, and they soon realize that oh, with many children i actually cannot provide everything. so we ask, what are some of the mechanism, if you are not able

to provide for education, what do you do. these are real choices for these women. many of them say, you know, we give the younger children food and the older children go without food. or we take the boys to school and the girls remain home because we cannot take all the children to school. and for those who have run out, they say, well, in my family we have ten children and i decided to go into prostitution to support our home. so finally, they realize what there is a relationship between having many children and whether you can be able to provide for these children. using these steaks. sew i ask again, what have we learned in the few weeks we have been together. kedra puts of her hand and said she want to contribute. okay, tell us. she said, you know, i have had 11 children in my life.

i got married when i was 13 years old. and over time, i give birth to many children. and i continued giving birth because they were dying. seven of them, seven, i have put in the ground. i have buried seven of my children. i only have four children remaining. and it is because i did not have family planning. nobody told me about it. but over the weeks, i have learned about family planning and actually i have an implant here, i have an implant. and it can protect me for five years. and i'm telling other women about family planning now. so i realize that actually this program is making an impact on the women that we talk to. they are able now to remain family planning, survival, and provision. for families and children. so that what i do and it keeps me awake every night. thank you. [ applause ]

>> thank you, jane. amazing. so powerful to see jane up on the opening stage yesterday. so our last speaker, our last fellow to present to you tonight, is an amazing, amazing person. he is the founder of the consult ancy, he submitted to us that he loves apple product.consultancy that he loves apple product. all right. i heard there is much more to this amazingly courageous person, and you're about to meet him right now. >> when i was growing up, i

wanted to be either a lawyer or an actor. so in 1999, when i got admission into the university to study theater art, it was a dream come true. three months into my admission, i met ebram. ebram was everything i wanted to meet. intelligent, with a wicked sense of humor. with my feeding allowance, this was a good relationship between ebram and i that he had such an impactive influence on my life. so it was after my first year holiday, when i went back to school, i got a call, ebram would like to see me. he is in the hospital. i rushed to see him.

and the moment i walked into the ward, i saw my best friend. lying there on the bed. i could see his ribs through his skin. those cancer all over his skin. his skin was dark. his eyes was big and popping out of his skull. he was lying on there. his hand were whithered. skin wrinkled. i couldn't help myself, i broke down. and then, he turned around and liked at me and he said, come over here, bitch. even at this particular time, he still had a sense of humor. i walked up to him and he stretch out his very weak hand and he held me and he said, i've

got aids. and i've only got a few days to live. and i would like to talk to you. and he looked right into my eyes and through me and he said, bisi, of all my friend, you are the only one that can get the message across to every other friend about hiv. and i want you to promise me that you will do this. i was young. i had no idea what he wanted me to do. in my frustration, i started looking for an answer. then i came across an organization in nigeria calls alliance right. working with gay men at that time in the area of hiv. i volunteered for them. and few months into volunteering, i was given the opportunity to become the program director. that came with a responsibility of lobbying nigerian government

to start an hiv friend walk that would include men who have sex with men, and drug users. this is a big chance for me. in nigeria, a country where public health is defined by religion. it was hard. everyday i try, i hit my head against the wall. i was invited to the first national aids conference in 2004 to give a talk, along side sex walkers and drug users and then, i told the story of ebram. just then, the health minister stood up, and liked at three of us and said, it is good for you to joan us in the fight against hiv. it was very much like i was dreaming. i wasn't expecting it.

in nigeria for things to happen. a few weeks later, agi got a letter from him and that changed hiv policy work in nigeria.i go letter from him and that changed hiv policy work in nigeria. however, ten years later, under 2014, the president signed a deal into law that prescribed 40 years inprisonment for perceived homosexuals in nigeria. the law also prescribes ten years in prison for known opposite homosexuals. that means, that hiv prevention work in nigeria had to stop. it is not just that, that 17% of hiv positive gay men living in nigeria would not have access to treatment.

in my frustration, the picture of ebram came back to me. then i realized that no matter what happens, i have to keep his memory alive. because there is still so much work to be done so that it will never be another ebram. thank you. [ applause ] on our next washington journal, chris chocola talks about list organization's goal of trying to elect fiscally conservative candidates in congress. then we will talk to ben wikler of move on.org which supports democratic candidates. after that our big 10 college tour continues at university of

maryland where president wallace lowe looks at public policy and higher education plus your phone calls, facebook comments and tweets. washington journal is live each morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> c-span 2015 student cam kpe stigs under way. the competition for middle and high schools students will award 150 prizes totaling $100,000. create a 5 to 7-minute documentary on the topic, the three branchets and you. videos need include c-span programming, show varying point of view, and must be submitted by january 20, 2015. go to studentcam.org for more information. grab a camera and get started today. >> now a discussion on vaccine safety. including a look at some of the reasons why diseases like mumps and measles are making a come back after having been eliminated for generations. from the national press club,

this is about health. welcome to the national press club and journalism institute and a special welcome to the vast audience viewing us today via c-span. i admire the president of the press club, wait our pleas to be hosting this briefing with the pbs show nova and tangled bank stud yoets with be co-producer of the upcoming show on vaccines. no question from maine to ohio to california, there have been many outbreaks of preventable diseases that many in my generation thought were no longer a threat. measles, mumps, hooping cough and even polo. and on a personal note, i was a

foreign correspondent for the associated press for 40 years. when i'm asked, what was the most important story i ever covered, i respond that it was covering the eradication of small box in india. when i went out with a group of world health organization ep deem epidemiologists, to talk about how they isolated areas with smallpox to be sure everyone was vaccinateed. those vaccines helped make the world smallpox free a few years later and that is why it is essential not forget the role of vaccines. no question, this issue of vaccines is being talked about by news media around the united states and the world. and i'm pleased that today we will be hearing from a distinguished panel, including journalists on the front lines covering this issue. persons like joe lawler, health and human services reporter,

portland press harold maine telegraph. the return of preventable diseases and risks, and nova, premier pbs show on signs, health, education and more. i want to welcome paula, executive producer here in the audience, and julia clark, senior producer, who are based at wgbh in boston, one of the pbs flagship stations. and our moderator today is michael rosen feld, head of tangle bank studios here in washington. the term tangle bank was inspired by the origin of species and his tangle bank hypothesis. named after darwin's colorful description after complicated ecosystem p. so we look to you, julia and michael, and other expert on the panel, to help us understand the

complicated ecosystem of vaccines. thank you so much again for having this important discussion, this very important discussion, at the national press club under the auspices of its journalism institute. i'm very pleased to turn over the floor to julia koord. >> thank you, myron. and thank you to the national press club institute for hosting this briefing and thank you all for coming this morning. we're here to talk about reporting on vaccinations and outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases. and to share some insights we've gained while preparing our upcome prague gram vk seens calling the shot. vaccination is a perfect topic for nova to cover because our primary pligs is improving the public's understanding of science through accurate and engaging journalism. and in fact, today, noef why and pbs are among a small handful of places one can find good science

journalism on television. and still, the need for science journalism has never been greater. science and technology is joined insome public policy issues today, like vaccination. it's crucial that people not only get the facts but get clear accessible explanations, analysis of the facts, so they can make informed decisions. yet, providing these can be really challenging for journalists, especially on subjects like vaccines. because not only is the science very complicated. but we're presenting this to readers, viewers, our audience, who are not just engaging with the facts, but are engaging with powerful emotions. but fear, mistrust. so this is a challenge our producer, our whole editorial team faced putting together this program as we aim to provide solid scientific understanding in a feel that full of misinformation and

misconception. so an audience that includes parents who are confused. who have a lot of questions, but are trying very hard to do the right thing for their children. >> senior executive for nova, who is here today, and i are very fortunate to be working with an extremely tal talented team of scientist. including producer, director and writer and michael rosenfeld who took on this really difficult and complicated but extraordinarily important topic. we hope today's discussion is helpful to you as you report on vaccines and wres well some of the issues we've been wrestling with. so now i'd like to turn things over to michael rosenfeld, head of television an film at tangled bank and executive producer of vaccines calling the shots. >> thank you, julia, for that kind introduction. and thank you myron, for participating in this briefing. good morning, everyone. thanks so much for coming.

subject of vaccination is on the mind of many americans right now as we send our kids back to school at a time when vaccine preventable outbreaks are making headlines around the country. the cdc puts the numbers in perspective. measles was declared eradicated in this country in the year 2000. but there have been almost 600 cases so far this year. that the highest number in the u.s. in almost two decades. per tusis or whooping cough is also a problem. 2012 was an especially bad year with nearly 50,000 cases and 20 deaths in the u.s. this year, the state of california declared a per tus yis epidemic. these are diseases that vaccines can and do prevent so the numbers will make anyone, but especially a journalist, wonder what is going on. at tangle bank studios, our mission so to shed light on public health so the story of vaccines and story of the swrout

breaks is irresistible to us. we have been fortunate to partner with pbs and nova to explore some of these issues. you've heard of the new documentary "vaccines calling the shots" which airs next week on nova at 10:00 p.m. eastern. we hope audiences will understand the science behind the issues. at the same time we know this a story that will continue to unfold over the coming weeks and months and years. i think it is safe to say that journalists will have their work cut out for them as they cover the return of vk seen preventab preventable diseases. this is not just a science story, it is a public health story, medicine story. economics and policy, psychology and history as well. our panelists today reflect that. brett, have you their bios, so i won't repeat that information, but i would like to add a few things about them. as you see, as you will see when you watch the film, paul offity

to my left, cares passionate by about public health. not that he was a leader in the virus vaccine that saves hundreds of thousands of lives around the world. he also is on the front line of pediatric medicine at the children's hospital of philadelphia. from public speaking to writing books, paul has a lot to say about the role of vaccines and vaccine preventable diseases. wait it make a smart film is to immerse yourself in the topic. paul really goes deep. when i first discussed this film with her years ago, i was impressed by how much she knew about vaccines and she spent the last 4 1/2 years immersing herself in this topic. with the detail understanding of the subject, sonia has given a lot of thought to how this story should be told. her goal, which we shared, was to craft a film that would bring

claire it to very complicated science. and also be accessible to the general public and to parent who have a lot of conflicting thoughts and emotions about vaccination. grappling with one of the hardest subjects to study and communicate risk. and as someone who studies how people make decisions at university of michigan, adept at explaining tough concepts like immunity and relative risk. and those subjects are especially important for vaccine, for the vaccine conversation. because how you see risk can is a big impact on whether you vaccinate your kids, on schedule, or even skip their vaccinations entirely. and finally, i'm pleased to welcome joe lawler to the panel. covering the health beat for the portland press harold in maine. he has written front page stories calling attention to the rise in vaccine skejs rates as

well as potential legislative responsees. his column generated lots of discussion on the web, which does something for good report awning this subject. so that's the panel. i'm now going to ask each of the panelist to speak for roughly five minutes about the subject of vaccinees from their particular vantage point, then we will open the floor to questions. paul? >> okay. if we could start, actually, there's a two-minute clip about immunity that will lead into my five minutes. so roll it. >> the to 13 measles outbreak in new york hit hard and fast. but remains within the brooklyn area. rso 13 measles outbreak in new york hit hard and fast. but remains within the brooklyn area. rs2o 13 measles outbreak in new york hit hard and fast. but remains within the brooklyn area. rs0o 13 measles outbreak in new york hit hard and fast. but remains within the brooklyn area. rs 13 measles outbreak in new york hit hard and fast.

but remains within the brooklyn area. rs13 measles outbreak in new york hit hard and fast. but remains within the brooklyn area. rs why didn't it spread to the other 8 million people in the city?why didn't it spread to th other 8 million people in the city? the virus was in circulation, even though it often wasn't obvious and was carried by people who often had no idea they were infected. but the vast majority of people who came into contact with the virus had protection. they were vaccinated. >> there's two things that matter for whether or not i'm going to get sick. one is, if i bump into something somebody who has the disease, am i protected. but the other piece, and the more important piece, is the chance i will bump into somebody in the first place who has this disease. and you can think of this as the sort of con centric circles of

people. and unless the disease exists in my circle or the next circle or the next circle, the safer i am. >> it's known as herd immunity and it protects everyone. including young babies and people who can't be vaccinated for medical reasons. and in new york, it works. >> if we didn't have the high vaccination levels that we do, you know, in new york city, and even in this community, i can promise you, we would have had hundreds if not thousands of cases. >> this protection is fragile. for highly infectious diseases like measles, we need 95% of the community vaccinated for herd immune it to hold. if the rate drops even just a few percent, herd immunity can elapse. >> so we live in a country of about 3300 million people.

among that 300 million, there are 500,000 who can't be vaccinated. because they are getting chemotherapy for their cancers. can't be vaccinated because of immune suppressive therapy or because they are too young. they depend on those around them to protect them and when herd immunity start to break down, what you see is exactly what you are seeing now. which is the most contagious diseases come back first. for example among the most contagious are measles, pumps and whooping cough. as michael said when he introduced this, look at the current measles epidemic. i think is instructive. current epidemic has been 400 casees. that's the biggest we've he is not since two decades ago. since the mid 19 the 90he 90se9. since the mid 19 the 90he 90ss. look at how this happened, people travel through countries.

and it happens generally year round. so the philippines, in the philippines last year, 31,000 cases of measles and 42 deathes from measles. a traveler generally unvaccinated goes the philippines, catches measles, comes back and spreads it for the most important among a group of unsackcy nated children. the reason the children are unvaccinated are because the parents chose not to vaccinate them. it is the biggest epidemic in two decades. it is worth wild looking at what this disease was before we add measles vaccine which is the first measles vaccine introduced in 1963. before the first measles vaccine, every year there were 3 to 4 million cases of measles. 48,000 hospitalizations an 500 deaths. everybody saw measles. today although there are 600 cases, i would bet few people, if anyone in this room, has actually seen a case of measles. in fact, when measles -- when a suspicious of measles case comes

into the hospital, a child who has fever, rash and question of measles, they generally bring old people, like me, down into the emergency department to see whether or not it really is a measles case. because people don't remember what measles looks like. for example, when a recent larry king live show, jenny mccarthy, my personal go-to person on health care advice, i don't know if she's yours, when asked the question about whether vaccinees could cause autism. and she said, i'll quote, i'll take the freakin' measles every time. what that tells you is that not only has she never seen measles, she doesn't know how sick it can make you, she forgot measles. i remember when i was an attending at children's hospital in philadelphia in 1991, we were in the midst of a massive measles epidemic.

two fundamental churches in our city. this is 1991. 30 years in development of a measles vaccine. we had 1400 cases of measles and nine deaths. five deaths in a ten-day period in february of 1991. our city was in a panic and so, there are certainly are those of white house understand the power of measles. for example, about 50% of children with measles will have an abnormal chest x-ray. they will have clinical pneumonia. what we experienced in 1991 in philadelphia is a lesson from the past and an prologue to the future. thanks. >> sonja? >> hi. i'm son why. filmmaker and science journalist and like manyj why. filmmaker and science journalist and like maa why. filmmaker and science journalist and like mawhy. filmmaker and science journalist and like mahy. filmmaker and science journalist and like may. filmmaker and science journalist and like many people this this

room, i see myself in between the public and science p. i started thinking about this in 200 the, after making a film called "catching cancer." that is how viruss can trigger cancers. and how in a funny way that's good news. because if you can find a virus causing cancer, there is a way to find a tribute. i received a rather large portion of nasty mail. i was shocked. i spent most of my life growing up in a medical family. i studied medicine. this is my area. i was surprised. so i decided i wanted to understand why people could be so upset and so angry about vaccines that they would take the time to write me these letters p. so i began a process, really, of digging really deep.

i raleigh wanted to understand why people would be frightened of vaccines because to me this is alien. i saw it as a life-saving medicine, so i just didn't really understand it. i had to confront my own bias. my own pro vaccination stamp and try and understand what it felt like to be someone who was fearful of vaccines. and that is what led to the film. i thought today, what i will try and contribute is five things i have learned about talking to people with hesitant regarding vaccines. so from one journalist to many others, here are my five tips at the moment. first of all, never forget that vaccination is a good news story. we get so used to hearing the pitch that as with the debating wi with, argument aej fight, around 1% of people in this country don't vaccinate at all. a very small number.

can we all just get a grip, to start off with. most are vaccinated all of the time, on schedule. and the round-about, depend on where you are, 10% of people might skip or delay some shots some of the time. that group is important. because as paul said, this can effect others and it is not an insignificant number. it is an important number. but i think it is important that we all put it in context that it is the norm to vaccinate. and we should reinforce good behavior in a sense, you know. positive stuff. so that was one of the first lessons i learned. to think about this as good news story. not bad news story. >> the second and really important thing is that people who have concerns about vaccines are not necessarily anti-vaccines. and in fact w, the number of people who came forward to me, i'm talking about hundreds, they

say, i'm nervous about vaccines. once i was tauopen to having conversation, i shut them down with my kind of personal bias, and it is good for you, when i stopped and actually listened to them, i would discover that most of them were not against vaccine, they just wanted to ask questions. and i think we forget that because the group that is strongly against vaccines are so vocal, that we can lose sight of this very large group of people who just have concerns. we did the first national survey of attitudes for vaccination in our country, in australia, and discovered around 53% of parents have some concerns around vaccines. now the vast majority go ton fully vaccinate anyway. there were enough concerns to make me question. i felt like the least i could do as a filmmaker is try to speak with to those parent.

and to do that reflectfully and acknowledge and understand that people are not necessarily outright refusing, they are simply concerned. and i think that the thing we need to remember is that internet changed the vaccination landscape. and it is a first to be wreckoned with, as we all know, and people go to the doctor for all sorts of things. so trying to counter that with some calm sensible and hopefully impartial innocence in the sense of just looking at signs and trying to follow what the signs have to say. i think that's vitally important.