Doctors are urging people to get the measles vaccine for their kids after a large, dangerous outbreak of the measles in Texas killed a child who was unvaccinated. “Texas health officials on Wednesday reported the first person ― a school-aged child ― has died in the state’s ongoing measles outbreak after being hospitalized in Lubbock. It’s the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade,” reports The Dallas Morning News:
The virus is spreading largely through unvaccinated people, who are very likely to catch the measles if they come into contact with it. On the other hand, people who have been vaccinated are unlikely to get sick; the two-dose regimen of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is 97% effective at preventing measles….The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that between 1 in 1,000 and 3 in 1,000 people who contract the illness will die from complications.
The effectiveness of the [measles] vaccine, coupled with rising vaccination rates, led to such low rates of measles that it was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. In recent years, though, the virus has made a resurgence, as childhood vaccination rates have dropped nationwide. Due to the ongoing outbreak, the state of Texas has already reported more measles cases so far this year than in any full year since 1992. Health experts have said the ongoing outbreak is likely to continue to grow. Health officials across the state are urging residents to get their measles vaccination if they have not already.
NPR reports that the “death of the child, who was not vaccinated for measles, was confirmed by state and local health officials and comes after weeks of a growing outbreak that spans Texas and New Mexico. It’s the first reported U.S. death from the illness since 2015.”
“It’s predictable, when measles occurs in unvaccinated children and adults,” says Dr. Carol Baker, a pediatrician and infectious diseases specialist who used to be on the staff of the Baylor College of Medicine, “I’m not surprised, but I am so sad.”
Hundreds of people have caught measles in Texas and New Mexico, most of them kids.
“Measles vaccination has saved 94 million lives globally since 1974. Of those, 92 million were children,” reports Our World in Data:
Measles vaccines rank the highest in the total number of lives saved. Measles is especially contagious and deadly. The virus depletes immune cells, making it harder to fight off measles and making other infections much more life-threatening. It can also erase immune memory to infections and vaccines that children have already encountered.
Before vaccines, almost all children caught measles, and it was a common cause of disability and death. With high measles vaccination rates, millions of lives are saved globally each year.
Of the lives saved by vaccination, about 60% are saved by the measles vaccine, according to Our World in Data. Globally, vaccination against measles has risen from under 20% in 2000 to more than 70% today.
Infant mortality rates have fallen dramatically over the last 50 years. Worldwide, they have fallen by more than two-thirds, from 10% in 1974 to less than 3% today. Researchers say vaccinations have cut infant mortality by 40%. “The rest of the decline has been driven by other factors, including improved nutrition, prenatal and neonatal care, access to clean water and sanitation, and other basic resources.”
A half century ago, few kids were vaccinated outside of Europe and North America. Less than 5% of infants got the vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DTP3).
In 1974, the World Health Assembly “formed the Essential Programme on Immunization, which aimed to vaccinate all children in the world against the main diseases for which vaccines exist, such as measles, tetanus, tuberculosis, and smallpox. Soon after, vaccination rates increased steeply — expanding to over 60% of the world’s children.” Many lives were saved as a result.
