The AMA is urging everyone who isn’t already vaccinated to get themselves and their families vaccinated against measles as cases rise in the United States, leading to a second measles-related death last week. The U.S. eliminated measles in 2000 after documenting a year of no endemic spread of the virus. The recent death of a school-aged child who was unvaccinated in West Texas underscores the serious health consequences associated with not being vaccinated.
“Declining vaccination rates are fueling a staggering increase in measles illnesses, measles hospitalizations … all primarily among unvaccinated populations,” AMA President Bruce A. Scott, MD, said in a statement issued prior to the second measles death of an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico last week.
Outbreaks are happening in multiple states as spring-break travel approaches. There is no cure or specific antiviral treatment for measles, Dr. Scott noted. Vaccination remains the best defense against measles infection, preventing infection, measles-related complications and even death. It also helps prevent further spread to people in close contact: loved ones, neighbors, co-workers and others.
The AMA is encouraging parents to immunize their children with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Anyone not already immune to measles should get vaccinated.
“As parents, our instinct is to do everything we can to keep our children safe. In the case of measles—a highly contagious disease that can cause severe health problems—that means getting your children vaccinated today,” said Dr. Scott.
As of public health updates on March 7, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported over 200 measles cases in a dozen jurisdictions, with over 90% of the cases linked to a measles outbreak. West Texas had 198 cases and 23 people hospitalized. Most of these cases are in children 5–17 years old who are either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. The outbreak recently spread to New Mexico, which reported 30 cases.
When immunization rates are high, people who are not protected directly by vaccines are protected because they are not exposed to the disease, said Dr. Scott. The MMR vaccine is recommended by the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Children should get two doses of MMR vaccine, starting with the first dose at 12–15 months and the second at 4–6 years of age.
Dr. Scott is urging the public to talk to physicians “and get your family and children the MMR vaccine as soon as possible if you have not already done so.”
A highly contagious disease
Measles is one of the most contagious infectious diseases of all time, said Erica Kaufman West, MD, the AMA’s director of infectious diseases in the department of science, medicine and public health.
For example, “if you have a room of 10 people who are unvaccinated and you have them all standing around with a person with measles, nine of them will get measles,” she said in a recently updated AMA news article, “What doctors wish patients knew about measles.”
Airborne transmission of droplets from an infected person who coughs or sneezes is the main vector for measles, according to Kate Land, MD, a pediatrician in Vacaville, California, at The Permanente Medical Group, who also was featured in that earlier news article.
“And because measles is infecting the nose and the mouth—the oropharynx and the nasopharynx—when a person coughs and sneezes, it aerosolizes these droplets,” Dr. Land added. These droplets remain in the air for up to two hours, infecting people who breathe into the same airspace or touch surfaces where the droplets have landed.
The Permanente Medical Group is a member of the AMA Health System Program that provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
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MMR vaccine works, has few side effects
The MMR vaccine is extraordinarily safe and effective. Available at doctors’ offices, clinics, and government health centers, the MMR vaccine is the surest, safest way to protect yourself, your loved ones and your community from measles, said Dr. Scott.
The CDC says a single dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective against measles, while two doses offer 97% protection.
There are “very few side effects—sometimes we see soreness and redness at the injection site, some fever and sometimes we see a rash about 10 days after getting the vaccine,” Dr. Land said. The rash is self-resolving and will eventually disappear.
The AMA has great resources to help patients and physicians navigate this infectious-disease outbreak:
- “AMA Update”: What outbreaks are happening right now? Measles, avian influenza, long COVID kids and vaccine news
- Measles on the Rise: How Can Physicians Help?
- Be on Alert for Travel-Related Measles
- Measles: Stories From the Frontlines
- JAMA Patient Page: What is measles?
- What doctors wish patients knew about family immunizations
