A unvaccinated school-age child died of measles in February in Lubbock – the first measles death in the US in a decade. In early March, an adult in New Mexico who was unvaccinated and did not seek medical care became the second measles-related death.
More than two months in, the West Texas outbreak is believed to have spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, sickening nearly 570 people. The World Health Organisation also reported cases related to Texas in Mexico. The number of cases in Texas shot up by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 more people were hospitalised. A team from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is on the ground in Texas assisting with outbreak response.
And nationwide, the US has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has delivered a tepid message on the importance of vaccination against measles, saying it should be encouraged while also sowing doubt in the vaccine’s safety. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been used safely for more than 60 years and is 97 per cent effective against measles after two doses. Experts and local health officials expect the outbreak to go on for several more months if not a year. In West Texas, the vast majority of cases are in unvaccinated people and children younger than 17. With several states facing outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable disease, some worry that measles may cost the US its status as having eliminated the disease.
Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed, according to the CDC. The first shot is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years.
