Anti-vaxxers have been named one of the top threats to global health in 2019 by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The anti-vaccine movement joined air pollution and climate change, HIV, and a worldwide influenza pandemic on the list released on Monday.

‘Vaccine hesitancy’, as the WHO calls it, ‘threatens to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases.’  

The organization added in its statement: ‘Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease – it currently prevents [two to three] million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved.’

A report released last year from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of unvaccinated children up to 35 months old increased four-fold between 2001 and 2015.

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