Health officials recently announced that an outbreak of measles they believe originated in Disneyland last December has now spread to multiple states, and experts have linked the epidemic to the growing anti-vaccination movement among parents. Here is a timeline of the recent outbreak in California:
- February 28, 1998: British physician Andrew Wakefield publishes the first in a long line of 0 scientific studies that link vaccines to autism
- June 9, 2004: Mother of three Karen Myers tells new mom Ashley Wheeler about a “great new parenting blog”
- April 5, 2011: Group of negligent parents decide to start calling themselves “anti-vaxxers”
- September 7, 2011-2014: Anti-vaccination movement spreads to thousands of other parents through direct online contact
- December 1, 2014: Herd immunity still holding up
- December 15, 2014: Measles outbreak in Southern California reduces San Diego classroom to manageable size
- January 10, 2015: Infected Beckwith family pushes through the pain for a second day at Disneyland because they spent 900 goddamn dollars for five two-day passes
- January 11, 2015: CDC epidemiologists conduct victim surveys in some very weird California homes
- January 18, 2015: Ben’s mom gives Jessa’s mom withering glance in preschool parking lot
- January 26, 2015: CDC angrily changes answer to “Has measles been eliminated in the United States?” on FAQ page of website
- January 27, 2015: Unvaccinated 9-year-old Hunter Warren still fine, so who’s to say who’s right?
- August 12, 2020: 2015 outbreak starting to look really quaint