
Ask HN: Need help reading this graph please - throwaway31451
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Measles_vaccine#&#x2F;media&#x2F;File:Measles_US_1944-2007_inset.png<p>I&#x27;m in a &#x27;discussion&#x27; with an anti-vaxxer who is insisting that Measles was under control before the Measles vaccine was introduced, this patently isn&#x27;t true but they&#x27;re citing 1940s stats, and from this graph I can see that it was a zig zag.<p>My question is what&#x27;s going on in the graph? Why were there crazy lows, then crazy highs? Thank you in advance for any help.
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gus_massa
Why the throwaway?

<Mostly guessing> After a year with an outbreak, the survivors are naturally
immunized. So the next year it's more difficult for the virus to propagate and
you get a smaller than usual amount of cases. After a few years there are
enough new people that is not immunized to get another big outbreak. I'm not
sure why it was a two year cicle.

After the vaccine the amount of not immunized people grow slowly, and the
outbreaks are more apart (5 - 10 years). So they added a booster / second dose
to kill the small outbreaks. (Now there are some additional doses from time to
time for risk groups.) </Mostly guessing>

