The goal of many vaccines is to eventually eradicate a disease by getting enough individuals vaccinated to create herd immunity. For example, in 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) deemed smallpox eradicated globally. This almost became true for measles in the early 2000, but due to increased rates of vaccine hesitancy, infection rates are on the rise. This research will determine the infection rates of measles before the creation of the measles vaccine, after the public release of the measles vaccine, and after the 2020 COVID pandemic, where cases of vaccine hesitancy started to rise. Measles infection rates will also be compared between different demographics. Based on the results, I will discuss why individuals choose not to get vaccinated and what the rise in vaccine hesitancy will mean for cases of other diseases like polio.
