What to know about the measles outbreak, the measles vaccine and prevention
With measles currently having a resurgence in West Texas and popping up in other parts of the country, it is important to stay up to date on vaccinations and records to protect yourself from the measles virus.
Detecting measles is a complex process, even for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, which conducts numerous tests to determine whether measles has been detected in the Sooner State.
Measles is one of the world's most contagious diseases, with one person being able to infect nine out of 10 of their unvaccinated close contacts.
Here's an answer to some of the most necessary questions to protect yourself and others from contracting measles.
Measles has been making a resurgence since January, primarily around the west Texas-New Mexico border. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that as of Feb. 27, there were 164 total cases in 2025—the most among children aged 5-19 (79) and those unvaccinated or without vaccination status (95%).
There has been one confirmed death from measles in 2025. Since March 4, Texas has confirmed 159 measles cases and New Mexico has confirmed 9 cases.
More: How does Oklahoma test for measles? What to know amid national outbreak
According to CDC data, there were 285 confirmed measles cases in 2024 across 32 states and Washington, D.C., including Oklahoma. They predominantly were in children under 5 years old (120) and in the unvaccinated or unknown status (89%).
If you do not know your MMR vaccination status, check your shot records with the state Health Department at https://tinyurl.com/shot-records.
The best way to defend against measles is to get the measles vaccine. The vaccine is usually given alongside the rubella and mumps vaccine, effectively naming it the MMR vaccine. It is recommended for all children ages 12 to 15 months and again at 4-6 years old.
If someone does not receive a second dose of the vaccine from ages 4-6, it may be administered at any age thereafter. The two doses of vaccine normally provide lifelong immunity.
More: Measles outbreak: What to know about symptoms, treatment, cases in Oklahoma
Taking two doses of the measles vaccine, typically at 12 to 15 months old and again at 4-6 years old, normally provides lifelong immunity, according to the state Health Department.
The first measles vaccine was licensed for public use in 1963. Another weaker vaccine was released in 1968, but it wasn't until 1971 when Dr. Maurice Hilleman combined the vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella into the MMR vaccine that we got the structure we know today.
According to the National Library of Medicine, in 1979, 17 states had school laws that included measles vaccines by way of controlling the outbreak. By 1980, all 50 states had them. The laws required every child entering public school kindergarten to be vaccinated.
Since then, states have also provided ways for people to be exempt from vaccines if there are religious or personal reasons. In Oklahoma, families can make an exemption from vaccines for religious and personal reasons.
Measles can still be contracted by individuals who have the vaccine; however, it is at a much lower rate than those who are unvaccinated.
The CDC reports that 3 out of 100 people who get two doses of the MMR vaccine will get measles if exposed to the virus. However, they are more likely to have a milder illness and less likely to spread to others.
In 2023, an estimated 107,500 people died of measles globally. Primarily children under the age of 5. According to the University of Chicago Medicine, 3 in 1,000 children who contract measles will die.
While that number only represents .3% of children who contract measles, the disease has a chance of resetting your immune system by causing immune amnesia. By doing so, the body's immune system can become a 'babylike' state, compromising its ability to fight new infections.
Contact your physician to schedule an MMR vaccine. According to the CDC, the vaccine can be given at any age.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Do you need the measles vaccine? What to know about the outbreak
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scientific American
an hour ago
- Scientific American
How RFK, Jr.'s Dismissal of CDC Immunization Committee Panelists Will Affect America's Vaccine Access
In a striking move on Monday, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department Health and Human Services, announced the dismissal of all sitting public health experts of an independent vaccine committee that counsels the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, the group holds public meetings to review the latest scientific evidence on vaccine safety and effectiveness and to make clinical recommendations for people in the U.S.—guidance that greatly influences access to disease-preventing shots. In his announcement in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Kennedy— who has a long history of as an antivaccine activist —framed the firings as taking 'a bold step in restoring public trust by totally reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices.' He also alleged there were 'persistent conflicts of interest' among committee members. Public health experts had been bracing for such a move. 'This was everybody's fear about having RFK, Jr., as our HHS secretary,' says Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. ACIP's decisions shape immunization schedules —affecting which groups will be recommended vaccines, when and how often they should get them and whether health insurance will cover costs. The panelists hold three open meetings each year to assess and vote on the clinical use of various existing and new vaccines, including ones that protect people against pneumonia, chicken pox, shingles, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), polio, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza and COVID. According to the agenda of ACIP's next meeting, slated for June 25–27, members are expected to vote on highly anticipated recommendations that would influence the next winter respiratory illness season—including guidance for COVID, flu and RSV vaccines for adults and children. In response to various questions about the plans for ACIP, an HHS spokesperson directed Scientific American to the agency's statement about the announcement and said the committee is still scheduled to meet on June 25–27. According to the statement, new committee members are currently under consideration. The secretary of health and human services gives the final approval of newly appointed ACIP members. 'I cannot imagine that they could compose a new ACIP that has been sufficiently vetted in [less than] three weeks,' Nuzzo says. 'One of the reasons why there's so much concern right now is that changing the composition of ACIP, potentially stacking it with antivaccine members, as many fear could happen, could make it harder for Americans to access vaccines that they want, that their doctors think are beneficial for them.' Scientific American spoke with Nuzzo about how the ACIP dismissal may affect vaccine policy and access and people's health. [ An edited transcript of the interview follows. ] What is the primary role of ACIP? There are a few features of the committee that make it important. One is expertise. The membership of the committee is somewhat diverse to represent a range of expert backgrounds because when you're talking about vaccines, there are pediatric issues, adult issues—a lot of different types of expertise need to be brought to bear. It's also an independent group, meaning that it's not populated by any particular political party. ACIP's members are outside experts who are appointed through a very transparent, open process, up to a fixed term. These are independent, nonpolitical actors who also have their conflicts of interests managed. Who they get money from is public knowledge. [ Editor's Note: Members withdraw themselves from deliberations and voting on any product for which they have disclosed a conflict of interest. ] How does ACIP make its decisions? During the meeting, [the members] have documents, they have people giving presentations. Sometimes those presentations are given by government scientists who have reviewed evidence, or sometimes [the members will look at] evidence from studies on vaccines. All of the meetings are open: either you could show up in public or, usually, [see a] broadcast on the web. So all of the data that are used in the discussion about vaccines and vaccine policies are made public, and they are reviewed. And not only are they reviewed, but the rationale and the interpretation of those data are public. So the public can see, interrogate, and vet the conclusions and the data that the committees use to base their conclusions. It's a very open [process], and that openness adheres to a governance structure has existed throughout multiple presidential administrations, multiple political parties presiding [over] it. It's also important to note that the CDC director does not have to accept ACIP's recommendations—the CDC director usually does, but the CDC director does not have to. My worry is not just that politics enters into ACIP; it's also just that 'Will the will of ACIP be adhered to?' How do ACIP's recommendations affect people? ACIP is one of two key advisory committees that serve the U.S. government related to vaccines [the other is the Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) ]. ACIP makes recommendations regarding vaccine policies and utilization—and those recommendations are important, not just because they represent the scientific consensus that exists at the time but also because they usually influence people's access to vaccines. One real concern is: if ACIP doesn't recommend a vaccine, insurers may decide not to cover the cost , and some of these vaccines have important out-of-pocket costs. Some of us can afford that, but a lot of us can't. And so there are real issues about who is going to be able to benefit from vaccines, and it creates a real inequity. It may also have an effect on the market and companies' willingness to incur the risks of making vaccines. Vaccines are not like making a car. There are a discovery process and research-and-development process that have to occur. If vaccine manufacturers fear that they're not going to be able to sell vaccines, that people aren't going to be able to access them, then they may simply decide not to make them. They might decide that the U.S. market is not where they want to invest their resources and may decide to instead serve other countries. So it's not just that ACIP provides advice that the American public can use to make their own vaccine decisions but also [that it] is often the basis by which [vaccine] providers and insurers make vaccines available. So it's not just about information; it's also about access. What does this action potentially mean for future vaccine policies? I'm worried about all vaccines at this point. I can't rule out that that isn't just the first warning shot. Some of the rationale around who should or should not get COVID boosters, in my view, feels like an opening to removing the availability of flu vaccines. We've seen the secretary of HHS wrongly malign MMR vaccines amid one of the worst measles outbreaks the U.S. has seen in decades. So I fear that everything's fair game.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mass. doctor ousted by RFK Jr. as part of purge to CDC vaccine advisory committee
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday ousted the entire panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines, and a Massachusetts doctor was among the 17 removed. Lin Chen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Travel Medicine Center at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last summer by the Biden administration. She was slated to serve on the committee through 2028, until Kennedy, a leading vaccine skeptic who is now the nation's top health official, erased its entire roster Monday. He characterized the decision as one that would restore public trust in vaccines. 'Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,' he wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published Monday. 'A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.' Read more: RFK Jr. says US ending COVID shot recommendation for healthy children, pregnant women The entire committee was comprised of Biden appointees, the Associated Press reported, and it featured a handful of New England representatives in addition to Chen, including: Sybil Cineas, associate program director for the Brown University Combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Program George Kuchel, director of the UConn Center on Aging at UConn Health Albert Shaw, professor of medicine in the Section of Infectious Diseases at the Yale School of Medicine According to her professional biography, Chen's clinical research emphasis is on diseases associated with travel, emerging infections, vector-borne diseases, vaccines and immigrant health. She is the past president of the International Society of Travel Medicine. Her recent research aims to 'improve immunization in relevant populations and decrease morbidity and mortality in international travelers, migrants, and occupational travelers and expatriates.' Chen could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday. Dr. Tom Freidan, former director of the CDC from 2009 to 2017, posted on LinkedIn Monday that the 17 panel members were 'fired by Secretary Kennedy based on false claims of conflicts of interest – a dangerous and unprecedented action that makes our families less safe.' Freidan hailed the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices a 'a model for the world' because of its 'transparent, fact-based guidance with rigorous reviews of vaccine safety and effectiveness.' 'Make no mistake: Politicizing the ACIP as Secretary Kennedy is doing will undermine public trust under the guise of improving it,' he posted. 'If this leads to vaccines not being recommended, millions of people could lose access, pay more for vaccines and for preventable illnesses, and children will be at greater risk of diseases we haven't faced in decades.' Trump cuts threaten 'irreplaceable' Harvard stockpile of human feces, urine A Mass. man bought an illegal depressant online and took his life. The seller will go to prison Boston OD deaths plummeted by 38% last year, lowest in a decade RFK Jr. says US ending COVID shot recommendation for healthy children, pregnant women Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Keeping children safe during the pool season
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 1 to 4. It's the second leading cause of unintentional deaths for children ages 5 to 14. This information comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A national nonprofit wants to bring an end to unintentional drownings. It's called the ZAC Foundation. The foundation was established in 2008. The founders, Karen and Brian Cohn, suffered the loss of their six-year-old son, Zachary, in a pool drain entrapment in their backyard swimming pool. Megan Ferraro is the executive director of the ZAC Foundation. She is also the chair of the U.S. National Water Safety Action Plan. She spoke about the developing action plan being designed in Austin and Central Texas to keep children safe during the summer season. There were 103 drownings in Texas in 2024. Ferraro spoke about the role parents play in making sure their children are safe. The simple and easy-to-do safety tips begin with keeping your toddler/child within arm's reach and making sure you're watching them at all times. If you have a pool at home, make sure there is appropriate fencing of some variety around the pool and lock it when the pool is not in use to prevent the young ones from getting in and falling into the water. Ferraro talked about the importance of getting your children swimming lessons, and, if needed, swimming lessons for yourself if you don't know how to swim. The ZAC Foundation's commitment to keeping children safe is enhanced through a partnership with community partners, such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, to provide ZAC camps. The goal? To ensure these organizations have a drowning prevention action plan to reduce, if not eliminate, drowning rates. The ZAC Foundation has an informative website that offers tips to prevent drowning, and safety precautions for all child age groups from infant to toddler to teen. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
