Latest news with #JenniferShuford
The Hill
7 hours ago
- Health
- The Hill
Texas declares measles outbreak over after 762 confirmed cases
Texas health officials on Monday declared the measles outbreak that began in West Texas earlier this year is now over after more than 700 cases were confirmed. The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) said that as of Aug. 18, 762 measles cases were confirmed since January, with the majority of infections occurring in children and most cases involving people who were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination statuses. Two deaths occurred in unvaccinated school-age children who lived in the outbreak area, marking the first U.S. measles death in more than a decade. 'The Texas Department of State Health Services is reporting the end of this year's measles outbreak centered in West Texas. It has been more than 42 days since a new case was reported in any of the counties that previously showed evidence of ongoing transmission,' DSHS said in a statement. The start of the outbreak was linked to a Mennonite community of the South Plains region of Texas among whom vaccination rates are low. In Gaines County, where many of early cases were reported, almost half of all students had exemptions from vaccines. 'I want to highlight the tireless work of the public health professionals across the state who contributed to the containment of one of the most contagious viruses. We arrived at this point through a comprehensive outbreak response that included testing, vaccination, disease monitoring and educating the public about measles through awareness campaigns,' said DSHS Commissioner Jennifer Shuford. Measles is one of the most infectious airborne, respiratory diseases. One infected individual can potentially infect up to 9 out of 10 people they come in contact with if they are not protected. While there are no antivirals specifically indicated for measles, a complete two-dose schedule of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is 97 percent effective at preventing measles. The outbreak was seen as an early test for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long disparaged MMR vaccines. Despite his criticisms, Kennedy acknowledged the benefits of measles vaccines during the outbreak, writing in an op-ed that they 'not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity.'
San Francisco Chronicle
10 hours ago
- Health
- San Francisco Chronicle
Texas declares measles outbreak over
The Texas measles outbreak that sickened 762 people since late January is over, state health officials said Monday. Health officials have not confirmed a new case in the affected counties in more than 42 days, passing the threshold used to declare measles outbreaks over. The last outbreak-related case in Texas was on July 1, according to state data. Two young Texas children died of the virus earlier this year and 100 people were hospitalized throughout the outbreak. The cases were linked to outbreaks in Canada and Mexico and jumped to other states in the U.S. The U.S. is having its worst year for measles in more than three decades, with 1,356 cases as of Aug. 5. Nationwide, childhood vaccination rates against the virus are declining as more parents claim exemptions from school requirements. West Texas was the nation's measles epicenter for months. The virus started spreading there in close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite communities in Gaines County. State officials say they will keep monitoring for new cases. Before the outbreak, most doctors in the state had never seen a measles case because of how uncommon it has become, said Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner Jennifer Shuford. She credited testing, vaccination, monitoring and education with helping to end the outbreak. Measles causes a rash and respiratory symptoms that can lead to severe complications or death. It is prevented by the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, which is recommended for young kids before they start school. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The Independent
10 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Measles outbreak in Texas is over, say health officials
Texas health officials announced on Monday the official end of a devastating measles outbreak that sickened 762 people and claimed the lives of two young children. The declaration follows more than 42 consecutive days without a new confirmed case in the affected counties, meeting the public health threshold for declaring an outbreak over. The last reported case in Texas was on 1 July, according to state data. Beyond the tragic fatalities, the highly contagious virus led to 100 hospitalisations. Cases were linked to outbreaks in Canada and Mexico, subsequently spreading to other US states. Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner Jennifer Shuford noted the outbreak's unusual nature, stating that before its onset, "most doctors in the state hadn't even seen a case of measles because of how uncommon it has become." She attributed the successful containment to "testing, vaccination, monitoring and education." Ms Shuford further commended the efforts of healthcare professionals, stating: "I want to highlight the tireless work of the public health professionals across the state who contributed to the containment of one of the most contagious viruses." Measles, a highly contagious virus, causes rash and respiratory symptoms, potentially leading to severe complications or death. It is prevented by the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, recommended for young children before school. State officials will continue monitoring for new cases. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
False Measles Vaccine Conspiracy Theories Won't Stop: Here's Everything You Need to Know
NurPhoto/Getty Images There's a deadly measles outbreak raging in west Texas, and it's being fueled, at least in part, by anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. The Texas Department of Health and Human Services announced two cases of measles in unvaccinated children on January 23. Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that, as of March 7, there are 208 cases related to the Texas outbreak, which has also spread into New Mexico. As a result, one child has died and another death is under investigation. This outbreak marks the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade. Nearly all of the people who have the measles in this Texas outbreak are unvaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. According to KFF research published in November, 2024, childhood vaccination rates in the U.S. have been falling over the last few years, which 'appear[s] to be related to increasing vaccine hesitancy, fueled in part by vaccine misinformation' after the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, 93% of U.S. kindergarteners are fully vaccinated against the measles, according to the New York Times — falling below the 95% needed for herd immunity. And in some places, like spots in Texas, fewer than 50% are protected against measles. While the source of the current outbreak is unknown, Dr. Jennifer Shuford, head of the Texas Department of State Health Services, told the state's House Committee on Public Health that decreasing trust in vaccines is part of the problem. 'At 95%, we have what's called herd immunity. We know when those vaccine levels get lower than 95% that there's enough unprotected people together to cause an outbreak,' she said, according to the Texas Tribune. 'There's been some decreased interest or decrease in trust in vaccines and that's caused a decrease in vaccination rates.' But what exactly is behind that distrust, particularly in the measles vaccine? Here's how the fully debunked and false conspiracy theories about the measles vaccine came to be. "Conspirituality" Boomed During the Pandemic, And It Could Have Consequences for the Vaccine Effort [*Booster*]( *is a series exploring the COVID-19 vaccine and what it means for young people — from the science behind it to how it impacts our lives.* It started with a study that wrongly linked the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine with autism. In 1998, Andrew Wakefield — an anti-vaccine activist and former doctor who has now been banned from practice in the UK, his home country — and 12 coauthors published a paper that falsely concluded that 'possible environmental triggers' (i.e. the vaccine) were associated with the onset of both" chronic enterocolitis and developmental regression. Twelve years after publishing the controversial study that spurred countless parents around the world to abstain from the MMR vaccine, medical journal The Lancet retracted the paper, finding it to be 'incorrect.' Britain's General Medical Council, which registers and regulates doctors in the U.K., ruled that Wakefield acted 'dishonestly and irresponsibly' during his research and with 'callous disregard' for the children involved in his study. Though the study has now been disproven — there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism — the damage had already been done. According to a report in TIME from 2010, 'Vaccination rates among toddlers [in the UK] plummeted from over 90% in the mid-1990s to below 70% in some places by 2003. Following this drop, Britain saw an increase in measles cases at a time when the disease had been all but eradicated in many developed countries. In 1998, there were just 56 cases of the disease in England and Wales; by 2008 there were 1,370.' In the U.S., research found that vaccine skepticism increased because of Wakefield's paper, Per the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, the MMR vaccine is highly effective in preventing measles, helping to protect the child who is vaccinated, as well as 'those unable to be vaccinated who are most vulnerable to serious disease such as immunocompromised patients and infants too young to be vaccinated.' The NFID is clear in its messaging, that 'the most important thing parents and others can do to help protect their families and communities from measles is to make sure that everyone who can be vaccinated is vaccinated against measles.' And, MMR vaccination rates across the U.S. have been and continue to be fairly high — though often falling short of the 95% threshold. To this day, many parent advocacy groups continue to defend Wakefield, despite the retraction of the critically flawed study, and that no large study has ever replicated his findings. Generation Rescue, a group founded by actors Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey rose in the wake of this study, dominating the public conversation around autism, while offering debunked and potentially harmful methods to 'treat' autism. At one point, Generation Rescue's board members included figures like Katie Wright, daughter of Bob and Suzanne Wright, the founders of influential and controversial advocacy group, Autism Speaks. While MMR vaccination rates have slightly fluctuated over the years, the COVID-19 pandemic breathed new life into vaccine hesitancy and skepticism, prompting another drop in the number of children getting their MMR vaccines. The Guardian reports that 'influencers who gained large followings during the pandemic – including those at the forefront of sowing doubt about the COVID vaccines – appear to have refocused some attention on MMR.' An increasingly politicized topic, misinformation and conflicting messaging continues to about in current mass communication. As recently as March 2025, Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who has been criticized for his purported connection to the 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa that killed 83 — outlined a strategy for containing the measles outbreak in West Texas in a wide ranging interview with Fox News, largely drawing on fringe theories about prevention and treatment. Despite extensive research to the contrary, he also suggested vaccination injuries were more common than currently known. Bizarrely, the known anti-vax secretary simultaneously called for vaccinations in the affected community. Conflicting messaging surrounding MMR vaccine conspiracy theories particularly targets parents on social media. Parents are especially vulnerable — they may be concerned about protecting their child from a vaccine that they see as potentially harmful, or they may be searching for a reason their child was diagnosed with autism. But, autism is not caused by vaccines, and there is no one known cause or reason for it. One study from Texas A&M School of Public Health researchers set out to identify reasons why anti-vaccine attitudes persist among parents. 'Our research suggests that anti-vaccine attitudes have deeply grounded psychological origins, which may be quite difficult to change,' author Timothy Callaghan, PhD, said in an article about the study. Their report noted that a crucial challenge for medical professionals was how to communicate effectively to change the minds of those with more conspiratorial thinking, suggesting that 'efforts to encourage childhood vaccination may be more successful if we avoid making mention of scientific studies, which parents might see as motivated by ulterior motives, or tying information to health departments (which these parents might find untrustworthy).' At once, in part because of conflicting messaging, fact and evidence-based communication might hold less weight for worried parents, considering the emotional weight of issues regarding children's health in general. One study also suggests that Dunning-Kruger effects (in which people overestimate their knowledge on a certain subject), can also help explain public opposition to vaccination policies. Further, the study suggests that this overconfidence 'is associated with opposition to mandatory vaccination policy' and 'is also associated with increased support for the role that non-experts (e.g., celebrities) play in the policymaking process.' Vaccines have 'saved more human lives than any other medical invention in history,' according to the World Health Organization, but these unfounded theories continue to prevent vaccines from protecting some vulnerable groups. In the face of a measles outbreak, however, some people seem to change their thinking. Texas station KHOU reports that demand for the measles vaccine has 'soared' in the state in recent weeks. Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas officials still don't know how West Texas measles outbreak started
Texas' health commissioner told lawmakers Monday they are still trying to determine the origin of a South Plains-Panhandle measles outbreak more than a month after the first patients reported symptoms. 'I cannot link this particular outbreak,' Dr. Jennifer Shuford, who oversees the Texas Department of State Health Services, told the House Committee on Public Health. 'We don't know what the link is.' During Monday's hourlong discussion — the first time the Legislature has meaningfully addressed the outbreak in a hearing since the first case was reported in January — Shuford fielded questions about the state's response, as well as those related to vaccine risks and whether the cause of the outbreak was due to illegal immigration from Republican lawmakers. [Texas leaders quiet amid the biggest measles outbreak in decades] While Gaines County is the center of this outbreak, infections have spread to eight other surrounding counties. Shuford told lawmakers Monday that the number of cases from the outbreak has increased to 158 and that four other measles cases — two in Harris County, one in Rockwall County and one in Travis County — have also been reported but linked to international travel and unrelated to the ongoing outbreak. State Rep. Mike Olcott, R-Fort Worth, asked Shuford repeatedly if the West Texas outbreak could be tied to the influx of undocumented immigrants into Texas. 'Have you all considered the possibility, because of the enormous surge of foreign nationals coming into this country recently, many of whom, maybe even most of whom, are not vaccinated, that could have been the source of the outbreak?' Olcott said. Shuford said she had no data pinpointing how the outbreak started. 'For this particular outbreak we don't know the individual who introduced it into the community or what the risk factor was for bringing it in,' Shuford said. Rep. John Bucy, D-Austin asked why the biggest outbreak in years was happening now in Texas. Shuford explained that the elimination of measles depends on a community having an immunization of at least 95% to keep the disease from spreading. 'At 95%, we have what's called herd immunity,' she said. 'We know when those vaccine levels get lower than 95% that there's enough unprotected people together to cause an outbreak.' What happened in Gaines County, she said, was that measles was able to latch onto a community where there were lower immunization rates. One of the county's local public school districts with only 143 students, according to 2023-24 school year data, has the highest school vaccine exemption rate in the state — 48% of Loop school district students have conscientious exemptions from required vaccinations. In 2023-24, less than half of all Loop kindergartners — 46% — were given the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, according to state data. 'There's been some decreased interest or decrease in trust in vaccines and that's caused a decrease in vaccination rates,' she said. Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, zeroed in on the amount of vaccine doses — at least 72 — an American child receives by the time they reach their 18th birthday, at the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He questioned whether health agencies should provide better communication about the risks of some vaccines. Too often, he said, those who question vaccine risks are painted unfairly. 'Take every one or you're an anti-vaxxer,' he said. He also said vaccine manufacturers bear no risk if someone has an adverse reaction to the shots. 'We don't do anything other than to tell people you need to get the vaccine, and, oh by the way, the pharmaceutical company has no liability because we have waived that,' Frank said. 'It's a great business model, right? They get to manufacture it. You require it.' Shuford conceded that it was up to the public health community to better inform the public about vaccines by laying out risks for different risk groups. 'I think that it does make sense and we're considering ways to communicate about vaccines. Clearly there are so many questions around it and rightfully so,' Shuford said. 'And part of it is on us in public health not being able to communicate well about it. We can't wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more. Hear from our CEO, Sonal Shah, on TribFest 2025. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
