Over 160 measles cases have been reported in nine U.S. states this year, mostly among unvaccinated individuals, with one death and over 30 hospitalizations. Health experts warn that declining vaccination rates and rising hesitancy could threaten the U.S.’s measles-free status, despite the vaccine being highly effective and widely available.
Over 160 measles cases in 2024
have raised alarms about vaccine hesitancy and declining immunity, threatening
the U.S.’s measles elimination status despite the effectiveness of the MMR
vaccine.
More than 160 measles cases have been
reported across nine states so far this year, including one death and over 30
hospitalizations, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
The CDC reports that 95% of these
cases occurred in individuals who were either unvaccinated or whose vaccination
status is unknown. Only 5% of cases involved people who had received one or two
doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
What’s worrying is that “outbreaks
are happening in the context of increased rates of vaccine hesitancy and
decreased rates of immunity,” said Dr. Patrick Jackson, an associate professor
of medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine who specializes in
infectious diseases.
“It’s an incredibly contagious virus, so we rely on high levels of
vaccination to contain the spread,” he said. “That makes me worry about when
we’ll have a lower vaccine level and see more sustained transmission of
measles.”
A Disease Once Thought Eliminated
First introduced in 1963, the vaccine virtually eliminated
the disease in the U.S. by 2000. There have been occasional case clusters
since, usually involving an unvaccinated person being exposed to measles while
traveling, Jackson said.
In 2019, 649 cases were confirmed in
New York’s Williamsburg neighborhood. An estimated 93% of the cases were in the
Orthodox Jewish community after an unvaccinated child was exposed to measles
while traveling abroad. The overwhelming number of cases were in young,
unvaccinated people, with 81.2% of patients under 18.
“If people have received appropriate measles vaccination, we believe immunity is lifelong and there is no need to pursue additional protection,” Jackson said.
Measles, an airborne illness, is
extremely infectious. Before the measles vaccine became available, the illness
killed between 400 and 500 people in the United States each year and
hospitalized an estimated 48,000 every year, according to CDC data.
The World Health Organization
declared measles eliminated in the U.S. in 2000; both North and South America
were declared free from the virus in 2016. But, with the new outbreaks across
the country, the Pan-American Health Organization warns the eliminated status
may be at risk.
“This is a disease that should not be
a thing anymore in this country,” Dr. Taison Bell, UVA’s acting chair of
medicine, said. “We have a vaccine that prevents it and the ability to
eradicate it.”
The Importance of Full Vaccination
The recommended protection is two doses of the vaccine, which
is 97% effective at preventing measles. The Pan-American Health Organization
recommends that 95% of the population should be vaccinated, with a focus on
children and young adults.
Roughly a third of cases reported
this year by the CDC were in children under 5, and almost half of cases were in
children 5 to 19 years old.
Others at risk are healthcare
workers, immunocompromised people, pregnant women, and unvaccinated children.
Infants are at higher risk because they cannot get vaccinated before their
first birthday.
“There are some higher risk
categories but, for most people, if you’re fully vaccinated, you should have
nothing to worry about,” Bell said. “Even though measles is highly infectious,
it doesn’t mutate much like COVID or the flu, so the vaccine is very effective
and gives lifelong immunity.”
UVA requires incoming students to
show proof of vaccination against measles, with few exemptions, including a
religious exemption, Bell said.
“We’re a reasonably well-vaccinated
population,” he said.
Doctors began recommending two doses
of the vaccine in 1989, according to Bell. He said anyone vaccinated before
that year should check to see if they should go back in for their second dose.
“I was actually in this category,” he
said. “It’s never too late to get vaccinated.”
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