Take the Shot: Preventing a Measles Outbreak in Indiana
- Melinda Palackel
- Apr 21
- 2 min read
In 2000, the United States declared Measles to be eliminated from the country. This meant that the disease had no longer been continuously spreading for over a year (cdc.gov), but before this, measles was so common in the U.S that nearly all children got it before they turned fifteen (cdc.gov). All of these disease ridden fifteen year-olds were suffering blisters and rashes due to the virus; sometimes people would also suffer brain swelling, pneumonia, or death. Measles has no cure– it didn’t then and it still doesn’t; so once contracted all you can do is pray (cleveland.clinic).
About eighty years ago a vaccine was made for measles, but the yearly kill-count was still concerning: about 400-500 deaths per year, 48,000 hospitalizations, and 1,000 victims suffering brain swelling (cdc.gov). Constant advancements in blood research lead to the development of the Edmonston-Enders vaccine, which has been used in the U.S. since 1968 (cdc.gov). A later addition to this vaccine helped completely rid measles from national circulation. Though measles remained eliminated in the U.S for about twenty years, cases have recently been reported in northern Indiana. In the year 2025, three unvaccinated minors and two adults with unknown vaccination statuses were confirmed to be infected with measles (cidrap.edu).
The reason that we care about five measly individuals carrying measles is the wildly contagious nature of the disease. If one person in our community has measles, about 94% of unvaccinated or susceptible individuals surrounding them will contract it (yale.edu). This makes measles more contagious than COVID-19, RSV, or the flu (yale. edu). The MMR and MMRV measles vaccines have a 93-97% efficiency rate, and are what dissolved the measles epidemic previously (cdc.gov). People who can’t get vaccinated due to health concerns (allergies, tuberculosis, low immunity, seizures, ect.), depend on other vaccinated people to prevent the spread of the virus (cdc.gov); but with the rise of anti-vaccination beliefs, we are facing the risk of a major outbreak. I’m not your dad, so I’m not going to tell you to get vaccinated or make sure others get vaccinated; but it’s important to think about how vaccines affect people who are unable to get them. People who are too young, too old, or have disqualifying medical conditions rely on healthy people to prevent viral outbreaks; vaccinations have saved so many lives and are ready to save so many more if people are just willing to take the shot.
Sources:
コメント