YuLin Zhen, Photography Editor

As of April 3, there have been 607 reported cases of measles in the United States this year, a stark increase from the previous year which only saw 285 cases, according to the Center for Disease Control, or CDC. 

Measles is a highly contagious virus characterized by symptoms such as high fever, cough, runny nose and watery eyes. The uptick in cases, Yale experts the News spoke to suggest, can be attributed to vaccine hesitancy and decreased vaccination rates, among other things. Though the virus is contagious, the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is highly effective at preventing infection, with a 93 percent effectiveness rate. The first dose is given at 12-15 months and the second at four to six years of age. 

“The evidence indicates that the measles outbreak in Texas is due to reduced vaccination rates in that geographic area. Measles is a very contagious disease, but the routine childhood vaccination schedule in the U.S. prevents it,” Dr. Ellen Foxman, associate professor of immunobiology at the School of Medicine, told the News. “When the vaccination rate drops, if there is even one case, the virus can spread quickly to any unprotected contacts. The straightforward way to counteract this is vaccination.” 

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported an outbreak of measles in the Panhandle region of Texas, beginning in January. A majority of these cases are located in Gaines County, with the state health services department reporting one death of a school aged child who was not vaccinated. This is the biggest measles outbreak the state has seen in more than 30 years. 

The child’s parents are members of a Mennonite community, with a kindergarten vaccination rate for measles, mumps and rubella in the county sitting at around 82 percent — the state average vaccination rate is at around 91 percent for the first dose and 80.9 percent for the second dose. In terms of full series vaccination rates, Texas falls behind the rest of the nation, with a state average vaccination rate of 67.8 percent. 

“This outbreak is occurring in an area where there is a low rate of measles vaccination. Measles is one of the most contagious diseases in existence, so to stop an outbreak you need a roughly 95 percent vaccination rate or higher,” Dr. Scott Roberts, associate medical director for infection prevention at the School of Medicine, told the News. “There are pockets of the U.S. where it is significantly less than that, and we are seeing the impact of that in real time.” 

The child’s parents had five children catch measles, and they treated the children with inhaled steroids and castor oil. The couple made comments about not taking the MMR vaccine, saying that the infection “wasn’t that bad” for the other children. 

This outbreak came around the same time Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed to be secretary of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has made statements in the past about COVID-19, stating the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System record “confirms that this [COVID] is the deadliest vaccine ever made.” He has also made statements to Fox News about how he believes “autism comes from vaccines.” 

“Secretary Kennedy has been quite vocal about his skepticism toward certain vaccines and has promoted misinformation,” Jackson Higginbottom MPH ’20, vaccine demand strategist at the CDC foundation, told the News. “That said, I think it is important to understand that these outbreaks reflect broader trends. We’ve been seeing declining vaccination rates for several years now, well before the current administration.” 

Deaths as a result of vaccination are a rare occurrence, as there are numerous rigid guidelines that must be met in order to release vaccines to the public, and once they are prepared for human use, there are precautions taken about who gets vaccinated to ensure the utmost safety. 

Despite rigorous evidence from the CDC on the safety of vaccines, the dissemination of Kennedy’s misinformation on vaccination are playing a role in government leadership, and with sweeping cuts to state and community health departments, education and access to vaccines has been affected. 

“What’s happening is that public figures with platforms as significant as Secretary Kennedy’s can amplify existing concerns and potentially accelerate these trends through their policy positions and public statements,” Higginbottom told the News. 

Higginbottom also described the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed dynamics involving vaccine hesitancy, citing factors such as social media platforms being algorithmically designed to amplify content that generates reactions, shifting trust in medical institutions and government agencies and changing ideas on individual choice versus collective responsibility. 

The COVID vaccine’s rapid development raised a lot of questions for people about public health. The nation saw an unprecedented politicization of public health measures, which made it difficult for some to separate true scientific guidance from political messaging. 

“Disproven myths, such as the [measles, mumps and rubella vaccine] causing autism, are continuing to be circulated. Also with the recent changes at Health and Human Services, I worry that local public health departments, who are already resource-strained, will be further reduced over time,” Dr. Roberts told the News. “I worry that misinformation being promoted, coupled with the changes in public health infrastructure, will make stopping this outbreak all the more challenging.” 

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