Sunday, October 12, 2025
Measles ...
There have been 1,563 measles cases reported in the US this year, according to CDC data.
George Frey/Getty Images
Let's think about vaccines and measles as
measles
is one of the most contagious diseases known to man.
A deadly measles outbreak in Texas ended in August, but outbreaks in other parts of the United States continue to add hundreds of new measles cases to this year’s record national total.
There have been an average of 27 new measles cases reported each week since the end of August, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The annual total –
now up to 1,563 cases since January – is the highest by a significant margin since measles was declared eliminated in the US a quarter-century ago.
There’s a new outbreak in Ohio, a recent surge in cases in Minnesota and more than 150 unvaccinated schoolchildren in South Carolina are in quarantine
because of an ongoing outbreak there.
Before this year, the US had recorded only 10 large measles outbreaks
– defined by the CDC as more than 50 related cases – since reaching elimination status in 2000.
But an ongoing outbreak along the border between Arizona and Utah is already the third large outbreak this year.
Experts say that any amount of measles spread is cause for concern,
and large outbreaks highlight the dangers of declining vaccination rates.
There are measles cases in the US every year, often introduced via international travel, Harris said. But those cases can really multiply only if they’re happening among other people who are unvaccinated
– and can multiply at large scale only if large parts of a community are unvaccinated.
The Texas outbreak is evidence of this, he said, with state health department data
showing that 97% of its cases were among people who had not gotten one or both of the recommended two vaccine doses.
This is what happens when ignorance triumphs science.
Read the entire
CNN article
to see why this take rings true.
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