Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists”: Measles: Preventing a Predictable Consequence of the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa
Matt Hanson, a senior program officer with the Vaccine Delivery Team at the Gates Foundation, and Orin Levine, director of the team, note a recent study published in Science estimating a measles outbreak in Ebola-hit West Africa could kill up to 16,000 additional children because of lapses in immunizations. They write, “Re-establishing routine immunization to levels preferably exceeding those seen pre-[Ebola virus disease] outbreak, providing catch-up vaccination opportunities, and strengthening surveillance are all essential to help these countries recover…” (3/14).