Anti-vaxxers officially one of top 10 threats to global health by World Health Organisation

about 21 million lives have been saved since 2000 thanks to the MMR vaccine, for example. Photo / 123RF

Anti-vaxxers have been officially named by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a threat to global health.

People who refuse to vaccinate are now among the top 10 health threats the world faces in 2019.

The anti-vaxxer movement is said to be to blame for the numerous outbreaks of measles and other diseases that had previously been fought by herd immunisation and vaccines.

In the US, in particular, the number of people who choose not to vaccinate continues to climb.

All over the world, measles outbreaks are now a serious issue thanks to people who choose to not vaccinate their children, despite all expert evidence of them saving lives.

WHO refers to the threat as "vaccine hesitancy" and says it "threatens to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases".

"Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease - it currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved," WHO says on its website.

According to WHO, about 21 million lives have been saved since 2000 thanks to the MMR vaccine, for example.

WHO says anti-vaxxers are directly to blame for measles outbreaks all over the globe. There has been a 30 per cent increase in cases globally, including in countries that were very close to eliminating the disease completely.