Measles Madness: The Rising Threat of a Preventable Disease
- yanabijoor
- Mar 2, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 10
What is Measles?
Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus. It spreads quickly when an infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes. It can cause severe disease, complications, and even death. It infects about 90% of unvaccinated people who come into close contact with an infected person.
Measles can affect anyone, but it is most common in children. Vaccination is the best way to prevent getting sick with measles or spreading it to others. The vaccine is safe and helps your body fight off the virus.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to setbacks in immunization efforts due to misinformation, causing parents to be skeptical about vaccines.
Europe experienced a 30-fold surge in cases last year. According to UNICEF, approximately 931,000 children in Europe and Central Asia did not receive full or partial routine immunization between 2019 and 2021. In these areas, the immunization rate for the initial measles dose decreased from 96 percent in 2019 to 93 percent in 2022. The situation is even more critical in Asia and Africa, with 9 million cases and 136,000 deaths globally reported in 2022.
1 out of 5 children worldwide have not received a measles vaccine.
Prevent Measles from Spreading
Measles would be gone if we wanted it to be. We’ve had a highly effective and safe vaccine for it for 60 years. But because of rising anti-vaccine sentiments, measles is back.
Measles can be prevented with a measles-containing vaccine, primarily administered as the combination measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. Community-wide vaccination is the most effective way to prevent measles. All children should be vaccinated against measles.
Public health efforts need to ramp up to help stop the spread of misinformation about the MMR vaccine. In 1963, the measles vaccine was developed, and by the late 1960s, vaccines were also available to protect against mumps (1967) and rubella (1969). The vaccine works very well. Two doses are 96% effective against measles, around 86% against mumps, and 89% against rubella. Before the introduction of vaccines, all three diseases were widespread; most people had them at some point, usually as children.
Because measles spreads so quickly, it is a good litmus test to see how well a nation is vaccinated. Unless we tackle the misinformation that is at the root of vaccine hesitancy, more children will get sick from this and other nasty, preventable diseases in 2024. Vaccine hesitancy is the biggest threat to human health.
The United States is Not Immune
The United States is not immune to measles. In January and February 2024, measles outbreaks in Florida and Philadelphia are happening as parents are ignoring health officials’ advice to not only vaccinate or quarantine their children.
A significant divide in support for MMR vaccines has emerged between Republicans and Democrats, as two of the 2024 presidential candidates promoted false information about vaccines and received support from anti-vax groups. Studies have demonstrated that exposure to anti-vax messages from these political figures on social media can increase vaccine hesitancy among their followers.
Diplomacy must effectively address and counter the increasing misinformation and politicization surrounding vaccines to stop this disease in its tracks.
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