In the early 1960s, there were nearly 500,000 cases of Measles annually in the United States. That figure dropped rapidly after a vaccine was approved in 1962. School vaccination requirements, coupled with public eagerness to end the spread of the disease through voluntary vaccination, led to measles being declared eliminated in the US in 2000.
A single dose of the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella, is 93% effective in preventing infection. In 1989, governmental guidelines began recommending two doses instead of one. The two-dose regimen is 97% effective in warding off measles.
The threshold for herd immunity, where a disease cannot spread because the majority of the population is immune (by vaccination or prior exposure), differs depending on how contagious a disease is. According to the CDC, herd immunity against polio requires 80% of the population to be immunized or naturally protected. Measles is far more infectious and requires 95% of the population to be protected.
National measles vaccination rates are now below 92%, with some communities reporting vaccination rates below 80%. So it is no surprise that in the first half of 2025, twenty-five years AFTER measles was eradicated, there have been over 1200 confirmed cases of the highly contagious and life-threatening disease.
We have a vaccine skeptic as our Health & Human Services Secretary. We have a president who, despite fast-tracking the COVID vaccine, often talks like a vaccine denier as well. Funding for the CDC has been slashed. Coordination with the WHO (World Health Organization) has ended. Instead of leaders who promote well-being by encouraging community involvement and engagement, we have leaders who suggest we all just do our own thing. And as with so many Trump Administration policies, the result is preventable misery & death.
You can’t pick your own facts. Science is real. Data does not lie.
Be kind. Do your part in protecting yourself, your family, your neighborhood, your community, your state, your country. Get vaccinated.
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