US sees increase in measles vaccinations following recent outbreaks

26 Mar 2025 15:34

1020838
World
Share

US sees increase in measles vaccinations following recent outbreaks

Ethan Turner holds his 14 month old son, Niko, while he gets the MMR vaccine from Raynard Covarrubio at a vaccine clinic put on by Lubbock Public Health Department on March 1, 2025 in Lubbock, Texas. Photo: Getty Images

Measles vaccination rates are showing an upward trend in areas of the U.S. that have been impacted by outbreaks this year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends that people receive two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine -- the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old, News.Az reports, citing ABC News.

One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective, the CDC says.

Of the 378 measles cases confirmed by the CDC so far this year, the majority have been among those who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.

In western Texas, an outbreak has infected 327 people, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Of those cases, just two have been among people fully vaccinated with the MMR vaccine.

Health officials have been urging anyone who isn't vaccinated to receive the MMR vaccine or to catch up on missed doses.

In Texas, as of March 16, at least 173,362 MMR vaccine doses have been administered across the state this year, according to DSHS data provided to ABC News.

This is higher than the number of doses administered in the state over the same period since at least 2020.

A DSHS spokesperson told ABC News that because there is no statewide requirement to report vaccine administration, the data is not a comprehensive accounting of all MMR vaccines administered in the state.

Lubbock County, in western Texas, has seen 10 measles cases so far this year, DSHS data shows. Despite not being at the epicenter of the outbreak, the number of people being vaccinated has increased, according to Katherine Wells, director of public health for the city of Lubbock.

"We're 75 miles east of the actual outbreak, but we're seeing an increase in the number of vaccinations that we're giving in our community," she told ABC News. "Over the last four weeks, our health department has been operating a walk-in vaccine clinic that's just for MMR, and that vaccine clinic [has] administered a little over 300 vaccines."

She added that health officials have seen multiple babies under 6 months old who have been exposed to measles. Because they are too young to be vaccinated, they have been given shots of immunoglobulin, which are antibodies that act as a post-exposure prophylaxis.

Wells said the vaccines are available at no cost, and health officials have been trying to spread the word over social media and the local news.

"So we're kind of just getting the people that, I think, either their children are behind on vaccines, just because parents get busy and it's hard to get your four-year-old sometimes into the doctor's office, or people that were kind of on the fence about vaccines and maybe said, 'Well, I don't want to vaccinate my kids, because you never see measles.' But now that you're seeing measles, they're bringing their children in for vaccinations," she said.

News.Az