After nearly more than twenty years a measles outbreak has hit Texas, with more than 10 cases confirmed in Gaines County. All of those infected are unvaccinated, and most are school-age children. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), nearly 1 to 3 out of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurological complications. Health authorities reiterate that the MMR vaccine remains the best protection, while concern grows over possible new outbreaks. As CDC warns, measles is an airborne and extremely contagious disease that can be particularly dangerous for infants, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems. Those who contract it can face serious and even life-threatening complications. Initial symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose and eye redness with watery discharge. Measles also can spread rapidly in communities with low vaccination rates.
As Newsweek reports, lately in Texas, the school vaccine coverage rate has dropped from 97 percent in the 2019-20 academic year, to 94.3 percent in 2023-24, according to state health data. At the same time, the number of vaccine exemption applications has skyrocketed, doubling from 45,900 in 2018 to 93,000 in 2024.
The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services DSHS issued a warning that “the best way to prevent disease is to be immunized with two doses of a measles vaccine, which is administered primarily as a combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are highly effective in preventing measles.”
Currently, however, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed by Trump to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, MMR vaccines may not be approved. In fact, Kennedy Jr.’s anti-scientific stances could have a significant impact on public health policies in the United States, particularly the regulation of vaccines to which he has often been opposed. Kennedy even founded the nonprofit organization Children’s Health Defense to spread criticism of vaccination programs claiming that “there is no vaccine that is safe and effective,” even spreading unfounded theories about the link between vaccines and autism.
