Dive Brief:
- Measles infections in several states have school and health officials concerned as fears grow of possible widespread outbreaks. The potentially fatal disease had been declared eradicated in the U.S. in 2000.
- About 82% of the 164 cases of measles reported are in people under the age of 20, according to data so far this year from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A school-aged child who was unvaccinated for the highly contagious respiratory disease died in Texas last week, health officials said.
- Researchers and health professionals point to the increase in vaccine skepticism as an explanation for why measles cases are increasing. Schools play a vital role in vaccination education and outbreak prevention, experts said.
Dive Insight:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, called for vaccine awareness and availability in a March 3 opinion piece published by Fox News.
"Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons," wrote Kennedy, who also said the choice to vaccinate is personal.
Some policymakers, however, said that Kennedy — who has raised doubts about vaccine safety in the past — should have explicitly recommended that people be vaccinated against measles.
Measles cases have been reported in Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, Rhode Island and Texas, according to a Feb. 27 CDC update. Texas has the most cases with more than 100.
The New Mexico Department of Health has issued guidance for schools and child care programs regarding measles prevention and response. The state is reporting an outbreak in Lea County with 9 confirmed cases as of Tuesday. Four of the nine cases are in children ages 5-17 years old.
The state’s guidance includes a template for school-to-parent communications about confirmed measles cases. It also recommends:
- Keeping a list of unvaccinated students and staff, including those who have waivers or exemptions for medical or religious reasons. This group may need to be excluded from school activities if there is a known case.
- Communicating with parents about CDC's measles vaccine recommendations.
- Promoting frequent handwashing and coughing etiquette.
- Disinfecting frequently touched surfaces.
According to Immunize.org, a nonprofit organization that seeks to remove barriers to vaccinations, all states require school children to have the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines, also known as MMR, for school enrollment. All states also have various exemption policies based on medical, religious or personal beliefs.
CDC data from the 2023-24 school year shows the rate for routine vaccinations in kindergartners dropped to 93% compared to 95% in the 2019-20 school year, while the vaccination exemption rate for this group rose from 2.5% to 3.3% over the same time period.
National research has found that childhood vaccination rates dipped in recent years as skepticism developed about the COVID-19 vaccination. A Pew Research Center survey published in May 2023 found that many adults in the U.S. said the benefits of MMR vaccinations outweigh the risks. However, support for policies that require children to have the vaccine in order to attend school dropped 12 percentage points from October 2019 to March 2023.
Polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation, conducted in January, found a correlation between parents' views on the myth that the MMR vaccination causes autism and rates of vaccinations for their children.
About 37% of parents who said it is “probably” or “definitely” true that the MMR vaccines have been proven to cause autism have also skipped or delayed vaccinations for their children. That’s compared to only 8% of parents who say the myth is “probably” or “definitely” false and who have also skipped or delayed routine vaccinations for their children.
The KFF survey also found a political divide regarding school policies for vaccinations. While 34% of Republican or Republican-leaning parents of children under the age of 18 said schools should not require vaccines for students, only 7% of Democratic or Democratic-leaning parents agreed.
