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Recap

In the Virgin Islands a bunch of people escape from a storm onto an island, only for a bunch of police to show up and throw them to the ground (the islanders are black and the cops are white)

Daisy is on vacation with her daughter before she goes to an international conference. 

There is a delay on the plane. DHS says there has been exposure to measles and they have to quarantine people and make sure everyone is safe.

Daisy is in a hurry and says that she and Joanna have been vaccinated but CDC says that she and Joanna were exposed on their cruise ship.

Elizabeth is getting ready to go to Camp David so she can write a campaign speech and is having a hard time letting go. Jay will be in charge of an international conference on climate change in the meantime.

At the conference, other countries feel overburdened by the refugees. Jay feels it is a humanitarian crisis. He wants Australia to be the first to take refugees in. Kat interrupts. The measles outbreak is an emergency. 

Blake tells Jay and Nina about the quarantine. Daisy tells Jay she is fine and this is just a precaution. Jay tells her to go home when she is released.

Stevie is looking at a dating app when her boss comes in. A guy she's looking at is related to someone at the DOJ and is a player. Stevie finds Will on the app.

Russell comes in and complains about the measles outbreak. An advisor says this is a public health crisis. The person who started it was from the Philippines who is not reporting this to the WHO. Dalton tells Jay to tread carefully.

Jay talks to the rep from the Phillippines. He annoys the guy by threatening all sorts of sanctions.

The doctor comes back and says Joanna tested positive for measles despite having been vaccinated. Because Joanna is contagious they have to be quarantined.

Matt doesn't understand why there's no treatment for measles. Kat says they have confirmation on the Phillippines outbreak. The President is claiming the migrants brought the measles with them and is tanking the climate agreement.

Henry is cooking when Stevie comes home. She shows him Will's photo on the dating app. Stevie says we should do something, right? Henry says that Will is an adult. Stevie says if Sophie sees any chance of them working it out is done.

Australia wants to wait for info about the origin of the outbreak before they make any decision about the migration deal. Jay says so if we find proof they aren't responsible you're back at the table? Australia says yes. 

China and Russia have also pulled out. Kat says she has a contact she may be able to try.

Daisy's friends are also at the hospital. It turns out her friends didn't vaccinate their kid. 

Kat calls her friend over video chat. Her friend says the migrant population is difficult to track and doesn't want to let the WHO help. Kat tells her friend about Joanna and says not finding out the origin of the outbreak puts all the kids in danger. Fran gets mad but doesn't turn off her camera, allowing Kat and Jay to see a map of the outbreak.

Will is getting readty to go to a restaurant. Henry asks him isn't it too soon to be on a dating app? He says Sophie could find out. Will says they are moving on. Henry is concerned. Will says he is figuring himself out by dating and goes.

Kat tells Jay about the map. WHO could pinpoint the start of the outbreak. It was an Australian family that did not vaccinate their children. Australia is about to leave. Jay grounds the plane. The Prime Minister says he has to talk to his Department of Health. He says he wants to stay in office so he can't do what Jay wants. He says the only evidence he has right now is that there are too many people in the US who are unvaccinated.

There is a code blue in Joanna's room. She needs to be intubated. Daisy watches helplessly.

Daisy's friend asks how Joanna is doing? She is stable for now.Her friend says her mom had measles growing up but was fine. She says she thought measles was eradicated and there were articles saying that vaccines are harmful. Lots of parents at her daughter's preschool didn't vaccinate either. She thought she was protecting her and now she could be blind or worse. Diasy comforts her.

Jay says Daisy would want them to keep doing their jobs -- where are they on the round table? Kat says it doesn't seem salvageable. Blake is frustrated. He says maybe they could issue a State Department travel warning about Australia. Jay doesn't want to get into a finger pointing match. Kat says they could just publicize that the outbreak started with an Australian citizen. It is time for the White House meeting..

85 confirmed cases. But thanks to the tip from State, they've got a handle on the outbreak. However, if the vaccination population continues to drop they will lose their herd immunity. Russell says they can't make vaccinations mandatory. Henry agrees.

A big issue is misinformation -- but another issue is poor people having lack of access because they can't afford health care for their kids. Dalton thinks that a federal program for free vaccinations is a good idea. Everyone agrees that the public's eroding faith in science is scary. Dalton says they need to find a way to combat misinformation.

Will comes home. He cut his date short to check on his daughter. She's fine, just a fever, but he wanted to make sure she didn't have measles. He says dating is as horrible as he remembers.

Kat can't get anyone back for the climate migration agreemeent.

Matt comes to see Daisy and her mother. He has food for them. Her mother takes the food and goes. Joanna has been taken off the ventilator. She tells him about her friend's guilt over not vaccinating her daughter. 

Jay says he sees what the problem is. There are two lies that are causing trouble. He says they control passports so they can require proof of vaccination to get a passport.

Russell says they can't do that. Jay says they can with the President's approval, and that immigrants are required to show proof of immunization so why not citizens/ Russell thinks that it is an encroachment of civil liberties and this won't change that. WHO says it will, because people who are opposed will have to have a consultation. Russell says people deny facts and that it will piss people off. Dalton says he doesn't think they have a choice since people can't be persuaded by reason.

Will brings his daughter home to his ex-wife. She thanks him for coming last night. She pulls away when he tries to flirt with her. Will thinks they should work things out at home. She's not interested. She says last night wouldn't solve their problems. He's not built for family life.

Australia says they have a right to deport the migrants and this moral lecturing is why the talks are stalled. Jay tells the Australian PM that either they go back to the conference or the US is issuing a travel warning about Australia and measles.

Joanna is all ready to go home. Daisy's friend comes to see her. She is going to talk to the press about what happened. Her daughter is probably cognitively impaired because she wasn't vaccinated. 

Will has found an apartment and is moving out so he can prove he can be there for the boring stuff.

Jay leads the conference and says that this agreement is not a call for open borders.

Daisy comes home as Jay says this is about coming together in a changing world.

Elizabeth is glad to be home. She prefers eating with Henry to the private chef. She is shocked that Will moved out but says this story will drive her crazy so let's table it.

In Brisbane the immigrants are being allowed in again.

Show:
Madam Secretary
Season:
Episode Number:
17
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Madam Secretary Season 5 Episode 17 Quotes

Elizabeth: Okay. Disengaging in 3...2...1.
Henry: Whoa. The countdown. I haven't heard that since Jason went to summer camp.

I work for the Secretary of State and I understand CDC protocols, but I'd really like to get to work.

Daisy