CNN reported that a measles outbreak is growing in a rural area of West Texas where vaccination rates are well below the recommended level. In late January, two children in Gaines County were hospitalized for measles. On Wednesday, the state health department issued a health alert:
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is reporting an outbreak of measles in Gaines County. At this time, six cases have been identified with symptom onset within the last two weeks, all among unvaccinated school-aged children who are residents of Gaines County.
Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in Gaines County and the surrounding communities. DSHS advises clinicians to follow the below measles immunization recommendations for the communities affected by the outbreak and immediately report any suspected cases to your local health department, preferably while the patient is in your presence.
To immediately increase the measles immunity and prevent disease occurrence in the affected communities, DSHS advises the following immunization recommendations for residents of Gaines County:
- Infants ages 6 to 11 months:
- Administer an early dose of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
- Follow the CDC’s recommended schedule and get:
- Another dose at 12 through 15 months.
- A final dose at 4 through 6 years.
- Children over 12 months old:
- If the child has not been vaccinated, administer one dose immediately and follow with a second dose at least 28 days after the first.
- If the child has received one dose, administer the second dose as soon as possible, at least 28 days after the first.
- Teen and adults with no evidence of immunity:
Administer one dose immediately and follow with a second dose at least 28 days after the first.
As of last Friday afternoon, the outbreak has jumped to 14 confirmed cases and six probable cases among people who are symptomatic and had close contact with infected individuals.
Investigations are ongoing, as cases have been identified also in parts of the region that are outside the Gaines County lines where the first cases were reported.
All the cases are believed to be among people who are not vaccinated against measles, and most of them are children.
A record share of US kindergartners had an exemption for required vaccinations last school year, leaving more than 125,000 new schoolchildren without coverage for at least one state-mandated vaccine, according to data published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October.
The US Department of Health and Human Services has set a goal that at least 95% of children in kindergarten will have gotten two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, a threshold necessary to help prevent outbreaks of the highly contagious disease. The US has now fallen short of that threshold for four years in a row. MMR coverage is particularly low in Gaines County, where nearly 1 in 5 incoming kindergartners in the 2023-24 school year did not get the vaccine.
In the health alert Wednesday, the Texas health department warned that additional cases are “likely to occur in Gaines County and the surrounding communities” due to the highly contagious nature of the disease.
Officials recommend that residents of Gaines County immediately improve their immunity and help prevent disease spread by ensuring that they are up to date on vaccinations. Children and adults who have not been vaccinated should get one dose immediately, followed by a second dose after 28 days. Infants between 6 and 11 months should get an early dose of the vaccine, and children who have had their first shot should get their second as soon as possible.
‘US News’ adds the following: As Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the most influential purveyors of dangerous vaccine misinformation, prepares to take the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services, researchers say such bills have a higher chance of passing and that more parents will refuse vaccines because of false information spread at the highest levels of government.
“Mr. Kennedy has been an opponent of many health-protecting and life-saving vaccines, such as those that prevent measles and polio,” scores of Nobel Prize laureates wrote in a letter to the Senate. Having him head HHS, they wrote, “would put the public’s health in jeopardy.”…
On this blog, we have discussed Kennedy’s imbecilic attitudes to measles and other health issues several times, e.g.:
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Here is what you can do to prevent his appointment
- The ‘International Chiropractors Association’ Congratulated Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on His Selection as ‘Secretary of Health and Human Services’
- Donald Trump might try to “outlaw” some vaccinations in the US
- The ‘moral and intellectual decay’ of COVID disinformants
In the forseeable future, we will most certainly encounter endemics and epidemics. I fear that, with Kennedy in charge of the US Department of Health and Human Services, the danger for them to grow into pandemics is hugely increased.
5 Responses to Measles outbreak in an US county with low vaccination rate
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I’m afraid that news like this will become depressingly common – as the Trump totalitarian(*) oligarchy continues its illegal(**) demolition of government agencies, among which lots of programs that aim to improve the life and health of poorer people, especially children.
Then again, we may NOT hear about these things any more when the Trump totalitarian oligarchy succeeds in suppressing any media organizations that they do not like – just like most mainstream media channels have lost access to the Pentagon already, and research funding for health programs is about to be cancelled. When people don’t know what’s going on, Trump and his cronies can simply dictate the lie that Everything is Great, and that they’re doing a Great Job.
And yes, these problems will be further compounded with this batshit insane Kennedy guy in control of the health department.
*: Trump and his henchmen de facto claim that they have absolute power over everything in America. They are wrong.
**: Those government agencies have been instituted and are funded through Congress, and can only be defunded or disbanded by Congress, as laid down in the Constitution – the very same Constitution that Trump has sworn to uphold and defend. Trump is now wiping his ass with this Constitution.
we will certainly hear about (and feel) it, once the infections arrive at our doorsteps!
I suggest we do as Trump does, and impose tariffs on those nasty American viruses in order to keep them out.
@Richard Rasker
I suggest you focus on somewhere else other than the USA.
You simply don’t understand that the populous is thrilled with the new administration…. save the bureaucrats.
Trump is doing exactly what he campaigned on.
Many of those agencies are SH!T.
The Department of Education was created in 1980. The quality of education in the USA had done nothing but get worse as measured against the rest of the developed countries since the creation of the DOE.
I don’t know how anybody can defend that.
Confidence in the FBI is at an all time low.
Confidence in the pharma industry, SBM and the FDA at a low, even among MD’s.
You want me to continue with more examples… just say so. I’ll be happy to continue.
Go fix your own country.
even if the people were thrilled (except for a few dummies, like your good self, this is evidently not true), Richard and everyone else would, in my book, be allowed to voice criticism.