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We Can Defeat Measles Again

Child death from a disease we once eliminated is tragic but will happen more often if we gut public health

By: Katherine Wells
and Dr. Phil Huang
Guest columnists
Your Turn

..... In 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that measles had bee eliminated in the united States. In 2025, one of us announced the death of an unvaccinated child from a measles outbreak - the first such death of a child in the United States since 2015.
..... As leaders of local health departments in Texas, we are devastated and infuriated. Devastated because an otherwise healthy child succumbed to an illness that one of our safest and most effective vaccines can prevent.
..... And infuriated because the path from the elimination of measles in the U.S. in 2000 to an outbreak now affecting nearly 150 Texas residents is littered with disinformation about vaccine,s coupled with longstanding disinvestment in our nation's public health system that makes it much harder for us to do our jobs.

US has the resources to eliminate this disease

..... According to the CDC, three specific factors contributed to the eradication of measles here in 2000. Examining each factor provides the road map for containing the outbreak in Texas, stopping similar ones from occurring in the future and getting our country's back to the point where measles does not force parents to bury their children.
..... The first factor: "A highly effective measles vaccine." We had it in 2000 and we have it today. [03/07/2025] Before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, 3 to 4 million people were infected each year, resulting in tens of thousands of hospitalization and hundreds of deaths. But those numbers plummeted thanks to a vaccine that provides 97% protection against illness over a lifetime. Communities with a 95% measles vaccination rate overall achieve herd immunity - meaning, even those who won't or can't get vaccinated.
..... That's why we are doing everything we can to quickly increase measles vaccination rates in West Texas and surrounding areas - from sending mobile vaccine clinics directly to neighborhoods to partnering with schools to identify and eras out to unvaccinated students and their families.
..... These efforts are working. In recent days, dozens of previously unvaccinated children have received this remarkable protection. Parents are getting vaccine questions answered by medical and public health professionals rather than purveyors of disinformation on social media. And families are getting the peace of mind that vaccines can provide.
..... The second factor: "A strong vaccination program that achieves high vaccine coverage in children." Childhood vaccination rates in the United States are still strong overall, but they are slipping. Measles vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergartners dropped from 95% during the 2019-2020 school year to 92.7% in the 2023-2024 school year.
..... That may not seem like much, but for an incredibly contagious and fast-moving illness like measles, it's a huge opening. When measles finds even bigger holes - nearly 1 in 5 children in Gaines County Texas, and nearly half of the students in the local school district were not vaccinated against measles before the current outbreak - it spread like wildfire.

Outbreaks happening in America all too often

..... Measles outbreaks - including in New Mexico this year, [2025] Florida in 2024, Ohio in 2022 and New York in 2019 -now happen all too often. It does not need to be this way.
..... Health officials at every level of government must be consistent in urging vaccination, increasing access to vaccines and providing additional resources to local health departments on three front lines in identifying and responding to outbreaks.
..... The third factor: "A strong public health system for detecting and responding to measles cases and outbreaks." Frankly, we're not where we need to be. It is much safer and easier - and far less expensive - to prevent measles outbreaks rather than respond to them. But our nation's public health system is severely underfunded.
..... For every health care dollar spent in the United States, only a few cents goes to public health and disease prevention. It's a major reason why life expectancy rates in the United States are down, chronic disease rates are up and vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks have become more common.
..... Federal dollars make up the vast majority of our respective health departments' budget. But at the same time we're doing everything possible to contain this measles outbreak. Trump administration officials are freezing helaht funds and cutting health agency staff.
..... That's never a good idea, but it's especially damaging and dangerous now.
..... The recipe for eradicating measles and effectively addressing other communicable disease outbreaks in our country is no different today than it was in 2000. What's needed now is a redoubling of efforts to get back to where we once were.
..... No child in Texas or anywhere else should die from measles. with the right commitment and approach from policymakers, we can make sure it doesn't happen again.

..... Katherine Wells is director of public health in Lubbock, Texas. Dr Phil Huang is director of health and human services in Dallas County, Texas.

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