COVID-19, RSV, the flu – and now add measles to the mix.
More than 80 children have contracted measles amid an ongoing outbreak in Ohio, according to City of Columbus health authorities.
Columbus and central Ohio have seen rates of measles increase since the outbreak started in November, though so far no deaths have been reported. As of Tuesday, 32 children were hospitalized, according to the measles public report from the City of Columbus.
Most of the children affected — 74 of the 82 — are unvaccinated against the disease. Four are partially vaccinated, while the remaining four have an unknown vaccination status. None of the 84 are fully vaccinated.
The outbreak is prompting concerns among some public health officials about the rising number of parents who don’t want their children vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR).
“We’re sounding the alarm that if your child is of age and not vaccinated, they should get vaccinated ASAP,” said Dr. Mysheika Roberts, health commissioner for Columbus Public Health, according to JAMA.
Measles is a viral respiratory illness that typically comes with symptoms including fever, cough and conjunctivitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prior to the development of the measles vaccine, which was licensed in 1963, measles was a common illness that affected more than half a million people every year in the U.S., and caused nearly 500 reported deaths.
However, the CDC estimates the number of annual cases was likely far higher – closer to three or four million people – and those went unreported. Due to the vaccine, the U.S. declared measles eliminated in 2000.
Still, a handful of cases popped up yearly here and there, largely among people who were unvaccinated. In 2004, there were 37 cases reported while in 2019, there were more than 1,200.
The rising cases in Ohio come on the heels of a recent report released by the CDC and the World Health Organization, which warned of decreasing measles vaccinations worldwide. Partially driven by vaccine hesitancy and the drop of routine childhood vaccinations during COVID-19, the emergence of measles worldwide has become a growing concern.
About seven in 10 adults, or 71%, believe that healthy children should be vaccinated against MMR to be able to attend public schools, according to a vaccine poll from Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s a decline from 82% in a 2019 Pew Research Center poll. 28% now say that parents should be allowed to not vaccinate their children for public school.
