CDC Data Indicates We’re 2 Months Away From America Losing Its Measles Elimination Status

from the embarrassing dept

We’ve talked a lot about measles throughout this year, which is particularly frustrating given that America officially eliminated this disease from its endemic state back in 2000. How we got here is a very simple story: too many people refused to vaccinate themselves and/or their children, giving the virus a foothold which it had been deprived for nearly a quarter of a century. And how that happened is also a frustratingly simple story: a combination of granola-munching liberals and the religious right in America got together in an unholy alliance to make up conspiracy theories about vaccines, claiming they cause autism and other complications.

If there is a singular face for this idiotic movement, it is, of course, RFK Jr., who now heads up the Department of Health & Human Services. There should be no preamble necessary to explain just how bad RFK Jr. has been in his current role, nor how directly responsible he is for the anti-vaxxer movement going back long before this current administration had the audacity to place American healthcare in his hands. We’ve been talking about how this administration’s inaction has put America’s measles elimination status at risk going all the way back to April.

We’re nearly there. To lose that status, a country must have endured continuous spread of a common strain of the disease over the course of 12 months. The CDC recently linked several outbreaks in America together via a singular strain, putting us at just over 10 months of continuous spread.

The Times obtained a recording of a call during which officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed to state health departments that the ongoing measles outbreak at the border of Arizona and Utah is a continuation of the explosive outbreak in West Texas that began in mid- to late-January. That is, the two massive outbreaks are being caused by the same subtype of measles virus.

The massive outbreak in Texas began in mid- to late-January and was declared over on August 18. In all, there were 762 cases of measles confirmed in the outbreak. Utah and Arizona started seeing some measles cases in June, but those outbreaks appeared to take off in August. To date, Utah and Arizona have reported 212 cases.

As ArsTechnica notes, America is not alone in this embarrassing failure, nor first. Canada just a few weeks ago lost its own elimination status for measles, having also endured 12 months of continuous spread of a singular strain. The cause for that is the same as in the States: non-participation in vaccination. And, frankly, the same people are responsible. Ignorance knows no borders, it turns out.

Canada achieved elimination in 1998. The US did the same in 2000. Elimination was achieved through hard-fought vaccination campaigns, as two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is 97 percent protective against the virus, and that protection is considered lifelong. But, since that time, vaccine misinformation and potent rhetoric from anti-vaccine activists—including current US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—have taken hold, driving vaccination rates down on a population level. While the vast majority of American and Canadian parents continue to vaccinate their children, certain pockets and close-knit communities have become dramatically undervaccinated, providing potential footholds for the virus.

The CDC is, right now, touting its plan to combat measles. On its website, it talks about how it is ramping up its vaccination programs, trying to vaccinate more people, build out surveillance programs to monitor the disease’s spread, and respond quickly to outbreaks.

I’ve reported on measles this year on a continual basis. I’m here to tell you one thing: if the CDC is doing literally any of the above, then it must be doing it in secret because I can’t square a single one of those claims with the reality we’re seeing across the country. RFK Jr. heads up HHS, under which CDC operates, and his messaging has been in direct opposition to what his child agency says it’s doing. He has questioned vaccines at every turn. He tore apart ACIP, the CDC advisory panel on immunization programs, and rebuilt it with anti-vaxxers that have already weakened our vaccination programs.

And it shows in the numbers. Perhaps you thought that the two outbreaks had waned and the rate of spread was in decline. It absolutely is not.

Sure, we’re at half the weekly new case rate compared with February and March. But those were the cold months, when viruses like this tend to spread more regularly due to more time being spent indoors without open windows for ventilation. Late winter and early spring are considered measles season and the fact that we’re already seeing a gradually rising spread rate, larger than before this past February and March, is extremely worrying.

The worst part of all of this is to be reminded that, while America did eliminate endemic measles in 2000, that came after focused vaccination campaigns kicked off in 1991. Nearly a decade of work, completely down the drain. All because RFK Jr., a bunch of Hollywood celebrities, and pockets of the ultra-religious couldn’t be bothered to listen to actual scientists and doctors.

In 1991, America endured 9,643 cases of measles. We’re on pace to achieve something like at least 2,000 cases in 2025. If it takes a couple of years to get back to elimination status at that number, it represents both needless suffering by the American people and a complete embarrassment to those in charge of America’s health.

Filed Under: anti-vaxxers, cdc, idiots, measles, rfk jr., vaccines