Disney stockholders can breathe a little bit easier. On Tuesday, CEO Bob Iger said that attendance at Disneyland theme parks in California has not been affected in the wake of a measles outbreak that is thought to have originated at the parks.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Iger said that with regard to theme park attendance, “we have not discerned any real impact from [the measles outbreak] to date.” Iger also said that looking at booking numbers at the parks proves that “there is no real impact from this.”
In fact, not only is attendance not lagging at Disney theme parks, but CFO Jay Rasulo told Deadline Hollywood that attendance was up seven percent in the final fiscal quarter of the year. Both Orlando’s Walt Disney World and Anaheim’s Disneyland Resort reportedly set all-time record-breaking attendance records in the quarter.
The measles outbreak, thought to have originated in California, has since spread to over 14 states and 102 people, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the CDC, the majority of those infected were unvaccinated; additionally, unvaccinated travelers continue to bring the disease into the United States.
Vaccination rates are of increasing concern for both lawmakers and the general public. A Los Angeles Times report published Wednesday revealed that vaccination rates at some Los Angeles-area day care centers were as low as 51%.
On Tuesday, an infant was reported to have contracted measles at a Santa Monica High School’s day care center, prompting the immediate quarantine of fourteen babies under the age of one. The MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine cannot be administered to anyone under 12 months old.