Little things, like taking a shortcut through the park on your way to work each day can make a big difference

to your mental health. Find your little big thing

little big thing at every mind matters.

Hi this is Your Health Quickly, a Scientific American podcast series.

We bring you the latest vital health news.

Discoveries that affect your body and your mind.

And we break down the medical research to help you stay healthy.

I'm Tanya Lewis.

I'm Josh Fishman.

We are Scientific American Senior Health Editors.

On today's show... Scientific American senior health editors.

On today's show, we're going to talk about the alarming decline in vaccination rates for childhood illnesses like measles and polio, and what we should do about it before there's an outbreak.

COVID gave a huge boost to the anti-Vax movement. But vaccination rates for many childhood

diseases were starting to erode long before that. That's right. It started

with people like Jenny McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who were spreading false

information about the effects of vaccines and autism and it got amplified from

there. It's really become an organized movement now.

Absolutely. So it may not surprise it's really become an organized movement now.

Absolutely.

So it may not surprise you that during the pandemic,

the number of kids getting routine vaccinations

fell even more,

...