Andrea Mitchell: Is Measles on the Rise Because of Vaccine ‘Conspiracy Theories’?

MITCHELL: “Why do you think this is happening? Why are there these pockets? Are more people now taking in conspiracy theories and the other theories that have really been discredited about the dangers of vaccines?"

FRIEDEN: “Overall, 92 percent of kids are vaccinated and if you look at the other 8 percent, most of the parents of those kids don’t have strongly held beliefs. They just maybe don’t realize that measles is still around. Maybe they don’t realize that their kid being vaccinated is important not just for their kid but for other babies and vulnerable children in their community. And the number, who have a very strongly held beliefs about the vaccine, is actually quite a bit smaller than that."

MITCHELL: “Should adults now be getting booster shots?"

FRIEDEN: “If you haven’t been vaccinated and you were born after 1957, then that is something that you can consider. Many of the cases that we’ve seen have been among adults. So check with your doctor. Interestingly, anyone born 1957 or before is almost universally immune because measles was universal before then and also often deadly. There is still, in the U.S. and around the world, even in well-off communities and well-off countries, about one in 1,000 kids who get measles may die from it and another one in 1,000 may get severe brain injury called encephalitis."

MITCHELL: “We saw politicians retreating after Chris Christie, Rand Paul -- Rand Paul is a doctor, he's an ophthalmologist -- making suggestions, alluding to the theories about autism and other problems with vaccinations which were really discredited back in 1998 when that [indecipherable] article was withdrawn rather, in 2010. It started back in 1998. But even President Obama and Hillary Clinton flirted with this in 2008 during the campaign answering questionaries and suggesting there might be some problems with vaccinations. How did we get to this place?"

FRIEDEN: “Well, if you look at vaccine programs all over the world, there has virtually almost never been a vaccine program where there hasn’t been some concern or, in fact, some paranoia about what the vaccine may contain. That’s why we’re completely transparent. We give the information on what the measles vaccination contain, on what the adverse events are. It’s true, that about one out of six kids may have a fever following the vaccine. Your arm may hurt afterwards, but study after study has shown that there are no long-term adverse consequences. That’s why I make sure my kids get vaccinated. But it’s not just about your kids. It's about your neighbors’ kids, it's about kids who can't get vaccinated because they've gotten treated for cancer, or the baby who is not old enough to get vaccinated yet. And measles can be serious."