Measles outbreak means vaccination must be taken seriously

The measles outbreak in the Southwestern U.S. has killed two people and sickened more than 300, according to the latest count. Compare that to 2024, when the number of measles cases nationwide for the entire year was 285, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Two things are true about the current outbreak: The child who died was unvaccinated with no underlying conditions, and most of the children who have been sickened had just one dose of the two-dose measles vaccine series, or none at all.

What do these faraway, low-vaccination communities have to do with Washington? A lot more than residents might think. According to a story by The Times’ FYI Guy, vaccination rates are falling here, too. Kids are entering school in large numbers without the MMR vaccines — required of almost all students except those with exemptions — which in turn is dampening herd immunity. This is a recipe for an outbreak.

Herd immunity occurs when the rate of vaccination is high enough to stop an outbreak in its tracks. For measles, this is reached when 95% of people are vaccinated. The rate is high because measles is one of the most contagious illnesses on earth. Otherwise, when one or two people are exposed after traveling to a country or county without herd immunity, the disease will spread like wildfire among the unvaccinated at home in a matter of days. A local pediatrician recently wrote in an op-ed that, “Measles is so contagious that nine in 10 unvaccinated people exposed will develop the disease.” Spread by coughing and sneezing, droplets containing the virus can remain infectious in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours.

The FYI Guy goes on to point out in the 2023-24 school year, kindergartners in only one Washington county, Yakima, met the herd immunity threshold. One. King County’s rate dropped to 92.2%. In Pend Oreille County, the rate plummeted 15.1 percentage points to 80%.

Even more distressing is the lack of oversight ensuring children meet state vaccination laws when entering school. More than half of the 1,700 kindergartners in King County listed as not vaccinated against measles in the last school year hadn’t submitted proof of vaccination, yet were not declared exempt, according to the news story.

Measles is not a mild disease. It can cause encephalitis, blindness, hearing loss and pneumonia. It can cross the placenta and cause birth defects. Once the illness is over, the effects may not be; the virus that causes it can “erase” your immune system, making you vulnerable to pathogens your body used to know how to fight.

Even without complications, it’s a miserable disease for young children, causing high fever, runny nose, cough and eye inflammation as well as the telltale rash. The first dose of the two-dose series cannot be given until a child is 12-15 months; doing so on time protects those too young to get the shot, as well as those with compromised immune systems who can’t get vaccines on a typical timeline.  

Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 because of high vaccination rates. In 2019, we nearly lost that status when 1,249 cases were reported. Experts blame the rate drop on increased anti-vaccine beliefs from a debunked study linking vaccines to autism, and later, suspicion of the COVID-19 vaccine and shutdowns, compounded by the vast reach of misinformation. It hasn’t helped that some in the highest levels of federal government have not promoted safe, effective vaccines.

Two doses of the measles vaccine — known as MMR for measles-mumps-rubella, the triumvirate it conquers — are 97% effective against measles. The measles-only vaccine was licensed in 1963; the MMR vaccine became available in 1971. In three decades, measles was considered gone.  

We must return to that level of commitment. Parents, please vaccinate kids on time. If you have concerns, you will find doctors eager to ease them. School districts, enforce vaccination requirements. Only when we build herd immunity can we ensure safety. The next outbreak is a car or plane ride away.