Project #1 Proposal

I would like to create a comparative map that displays both the rate of vaccination and the rate of vaccine-preventable outbreaks in the United States. In my previous Introduction to Health Care Studies class, I learned that there is a direct correlation between the lack of vaccination and disease epidemics. Herd immunity is an indirect way of protecting a community from diseases and occurs when a high proportion of a population is immune or vaccinated. This is especially important to protect young children, who are more vulnerable to acquiring diseases because they are too young to be vaccinated. For example, in 2015, California experienced a huge measles outbreak in Disneyland where most of the infected people were unvaccinated due to personal beliefs and young age. Maps that I have researched present the rate of vaccination and the rate of vaccine-preventable outbreaks separately, but never together, which is what I want my map to show. Since my map would have two different sets of data, I would have to display these data sets so that they are both clear and understandable, but most importantly, I would like my map to convey the message of the importance of herd immunity.