Measles is back — We need to act
2/28/2024 by Robert M. Jacobson, M.D.
Measles is back in the news. During the pandemic, U.S. children suffered delays in preventive services. Early pandemic precautions prevented many clinics from providing routine care. Also, leaders wrongly questioned if the new COVID-19 vaccines were safe, if they worked and if people needed them. As a result, people began to question routine vaccination in general.
This impact has left a large fraction of people not getting the vaccines they are due, including young children being vaccinated against measles. While 93% of kindergarteners in Minnesota had both measles vaccines in 2019, now only 87% have. We need a 95% vaccination rate to achieve herd immunity that protects the other 5%.
Three Minnesota children this year so far have contracted measles. One got measles through travel to another country. The other two got measles from this child. Across the U.S., so far in 2024, 35 children across fifteen states have developed measles. And we are not even three months through the new year.
In the U.S.
- Most children with measles end up in the hospital.
- Up to 30% of U.S. children who get measles suffer complications (including diarrhea, middle ear infections, pneumonia, brain inflammation and death).
Measles also dampens one's immunity for a year or more afterward. In developing countries, death is more common.
We eliminated measles from the United States in the year 2000 through routine childhood vaccination.
We need all parents to get their children up to date now against measles to put an end to this disease. Please check your child's vaccination record and schedule an appointment with your primary care team to get caught up on measles vaccination if necessary.
Robert M. Jacobson, M.D., is the medical director of the Primary Care Immunization Program in Southeast Minnesota. He is a physician in Community Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and practices in the Baldwin building.