By the beginning of the 21st century, the federal government had declared measles eradicated in the U.S. Fifteen years later, the
nation is facing a possible "large outbreak," according to the Centers for Disease Control.
"We are very concerned by the growing number of people who are susceptible to measles, and the possibility that we could have a large outbreak in this country as a result," Frieden said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
There are at least 102 reported cases in 14 states, according to the CDC. Frieden said that the U.S. is "likely to see more cases."
Meanwhile, President Obama is
urging parents to ignore conspiracy theories, embrace science and vaccinate their kids.
"I understand that there are families that, in some cases, are concerned about the effect of vaccinations," Obama said in a pre-Super Bowl interview with NBC's Savannah Guthrie on Sunday. "The science is, you know, pretty indisputable. We’ve looked at this again and again. There is every reason to get vaccinated, but there aren’t reasons to not."
"You should get your kids vaccinated," he added. "It's good for them and the challenge you have is if you have a certain group of kids who don't get vaccinated, and if it grows large enough that a percentage of the population doesn't get vaccinated and they're the folks who can't get vaccinated, small infants, for example ... they suddenly become much more vulnerable."
There's a pretty simple solution to eradicating measles again—vaccinations. It worked great for the whole of the 20th century.