MEASLES
After declaring victory in 2000 as Measles was eliminated from the USA, the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on May 29, 2014 that the disease made a comeback with the most ferocious intensity in 20 years. According to the estimate, as of May 23, 2014, 288 cases were reported in 18 states, the highest year-to-date total since 1994, when 963 cases were reported by the year's end. Most of the affected people were unvaccinated and got infected from overseas, especially from Philippines, where a measles outbreak this year killed 41 people and affected 32,000 people.
Measles
Figures Jump to Record in 23 Years
The
World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention on November 12, 2020 released the recent-most progress
report on measles vaccination effort, spotlighting the failure of international
community to check the rise of the highly contagious disease in 2019. The
report estimated 870,000 or so measles cases throughout the globe in 2019,
a high watermark in the last 23 years. The 23-year record also punctuated with
the grim number of about 207,500 deaths, a 50% rise compared to 2016.
Highlighting the failure of global community to sustain adequate coverage, WHO
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus issued a statement, reading that
“we are failing to protect children from measles in every region of the world”.
To be effective, the coverage of measles vaccination should be around 95%.
However, the current coverage is stalled between 70% and 85%. This year,
Coronavirus pandemic is complicating the vaccination effort further.
Measles Outbreak in West Texas Shines a Spotlight on Vaccine Exemption
Texas health authorities on February 11, 2025 has reported a measles outbreak in West Texas, especially in the small Gaines County that has one of the highest vaccine exemption rates. Texas Department of State Health Services reported 24 cases of measles in West Texas. In neighboring Lea County, across the New Mexico border line, one Measles case was reported by the New Mexico Department of Health in a press release on February 11, 2025.
Texas has seen troublesome increase in vaccine exemptions in the past decade. According to the TDSHS data, the vaccine exemptions rose in 2024 to 2.32% from 0.76% in 2014.
West Texas Measles Infections Reach Highest Level since 1992
The Dallas Morning News in its February 24, 2025, edition reported that the total number of Measles infections in West Texas counties had now topped 90, with 85 among unvaccinated people and five among vaccinated subjects. The figure [90] reported so far, barring the nine cases reported in the neighboring Lea County in New Mexico, is the highest since 1,097 cases reported in 1992 and higher than the annual figures for each of the years 1993 through 2024.
The West Texas counties affected by Measles are: (1) Gaines [57], (2) Terry [20], (3) Dawson [6], (4) Yoakum [4], (5) Ector [1], (6) Lubbock [1], and (7) Lynn [1], respectively. The News reported the figures based on the data released by the Texas Department of State Health on February 21, 2025.
First Measle Death in a Decade
The Dallas Morning News reported on February 28, 2025 that the first death in Texas from Measles in West Texas had been registered on February 25, 2025. This is slap to the Texas public health system as the number of vaccine exemptions is rising in the Lone Star State and beyond amidst explosion in right-wing conspiracy theories over vaccination and elevation of high-profile vaccine-skeptic such as Robert Kennedy to lead the federal Health and Human Services, or HHS, department.
As of February 27, 2025, Texas has logged in 124 Measles infections, including 119 unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was not known. The Mennonite-dominated Gaines County in West Texas suffered the worst bout of Measles infections. There are nine cases of Measles reported across the state line in New Mexico.
First North Texas Measles Case Reported
The Dallas Morning News published in March 2, 2025, edition that the first confirmed North Texas Measles case in Rockwall had been reported on February 26, 2025. The case is not tied to the current eruption in the West Texas.
Doctors and public health advocates are recommending MMR vaccinations to kids as a sure-shot immunity build-up for the most vulnerable patients: children. The first dosage of [MMR, or Mumps-Measles-Rubella, vaccination] is normally administered when children are between 12 months and 15 months. The first dosage, on the average, provides 93% immunity. A second dose, normally administered between four and six years, elevates the immunity level to 97%.
Health Experts Dispute Vitamin A as Alternative to Vaccines for Measles, First Death in NM Reported
After Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy wrote on Fox News column the benefits of the Vitamin A in preventing deaths from Measles, medical experts cautioned the misinterpretation and misjudgment from his statement that could sway people leaning on the Vitamin A instead of administering the vaccines for themselves and their children, according to a front-page article in The Dallas Morning News published on March 7, 2025. There is some benefit to Measles patients from taking Vitamin A, especially for the children who are nutrient-deficient as is the case in the Developing World, but the Vitamin A is no substitute for MMR vaccine.
Meanwhile, the first virus-related death, an adult who had been infected with Measles, was reported on March 6, 2025 in New Mexico although authorities had yet to link the death to Measles. The death came days after a school-age unvaccinated child in West Texas had died after getting sickened from Measles.
More than 250 Measles Cases Reported, A New County Added, Breakthrough Infections Rare, but Possible
The Dallas Morning News reported on March 15, 2025 that breakthrough Measles infection, implying that the virus infecting fully immunized people, can affect nearly 3 out of 100 infected people, according to the CDC research.
Meanwhile, the state authorities reported on March 14, 2025 that 259 cases were now tied to the West Texas eruption of Measles. Out of 259, only two are fully vaccinated people. The remaining are either unvaccinated or their vaccination status are not known. Out of 259 cases, 34 people were hospitalized and one unvaccinated, school-age child was reported to have died. Most of the cases--174 by the latest count--are reported in the Gaines County, with Terry County following a close second with 36 reported cases. In the neighboring New Mexico, 35 Measles cases and one death were reported.
On March 13, 2025, a new County was added to the current bout of Measles cases linked to the West Texas cases. Lamar County, 100 miles Northeast of Dallas, reported four cases of Measles that might have been spread from a recent travel to Gaines County.
Current breakdown of 259 cases, as of March 14, 2025: (1) Gaines [174], (2) Terry [36], (3) Dawson [11, (4) Yoakum [11], (5) Ector [2], (6) Lubbock [4], (7) Lynn [2], (8) Lamar [4], (9) Cochran [6], (10) Martin [3], and (11) Dallam [6], respectively.
West Texas Measles Outbreak Spreads to Three States
The Dallas Morning News has reported on March 19, 2025 that in addition to Texas (279) and New Mexico (38), Oklahoma now has four reported cases of Measles connected to the West Texas outbreak.
Lone Star Measles Cases Connected to West Texas Eruption Crosses 400
The Measles outbreak in Texas now is the worst since 1992 as on April 1, 2025, Texas Department of State Health Services reported 422 cases--sharply up from 400 reported on March 28, 2025--connected to the outbreak in the Gaines County, where the number has risen to an alarming level of 280. During the day, TDSHS also reported two additional counties--Brown and Erath--with a single case each connected to the West Texas infection. Texas reported one death and 42 hospitalizations as of April 1, 2025.
As of April 1, 2025, Oklahoma reported 10 Measles infections connected to the Gaines County eruption and New Mexico reported 48 cases, including a lone death of an adult.
A Second Child with Measles Dies in West Texas
The Dallas Morning News reported on April 7, 2025 that a second girl infected with Measles had died at a Lubbock hospital on April 3, 2025. The girl, just like the first girl who had died of Measles in February 2025, was unvaccinated. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy visited the epicenter of the Measles outbreak on April 6, 2025 and met with the family members of the two deceased girls.
Long-term Negative Effect Can Linger for Measles-infected Kids
The Dallas Morning News in its April 23, 2025, edition published a front-page article on how severe Measles infection could be in the long-term for the children infected by it. 1 in 1,000 cases of Measles are associated with Encephalitis which is related to Measles virus to reach brain cells. Encephalitis has almost 15% fatality rate. Doctors are advising the parents to get their kids administered by MMR vaccine because, among others, as the Encephalitis is a threat to the health of children. The worrisome part is that even after recovery from Encephalitis, children remain vulnerable to the long-term damage of brain cells from the slow progression from the viral infection. That slow infection of the brain cells is known as Subacute Sclerosis Panencephalitis. SSPE remains a lifelong threat to people who might have been infected by Measles at a younger age.
Another adverse effect of Measles infection is that it erases the "immunity memory" in which the body forgets that it has been infected previously.
U.S. Measles Hit 33-year High
The Washington Post reported on July 7, 2025 that the U.S. Measles cases numbered this year as high as 1,277 reported from 38 states and the District of Columbia. The Washington Post cited the data based on the findings released on July 4, 2025 from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Outbreak Response Innovation.
The surge--highest since 1992 when the Measles cases numbered at least 2,100--happened in the backdrop of growing voice and political clout of the vaccine skeptics.
Texas Measles Outbreak Officially Ends
The worst Measles outbreak in 30 years that erupted in late January 2025 in the Gaines County on the New Mexico border, sickened--based on official reporting--762 people, hospitalized 99 and killed two school-age children, was on August 18, 2025 declared over by the Texas Department of State Health Services as there was no new infection from this outbreak over the past 42 days. This outbreak had spread to Oklahoma and New Mexico. The West Texas outbreak was the single largest contributor to nation's largest outbreak of Measles with 1,356 reported cases, a 33-year record, as of August 5, 2025, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, TDSHS Commissioner Dr. Jennifer Shuford urged public to stay vigilant and exercise caution as new cases might emerge. In recent years vaccination rate is dropping in Texas and across the nation, fueled by the so called health freedom movement and anti-vaccine propaganda campaign. A two-dose MMR vaccine is reported to be 97% effective and credited to eradicate Measles from the U.S. in 2000.
CMS Chief Urges Americans for Vaccines as South Carolina Tops Texas in Measles Outbreak
As South Carolina's recent surge in Measles cases exceeded the number of total cases in the West Texas outbreak last Spring (2025 Spring), Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz on February 8, 2026 said on CNN's State of the Union that people in the U.S. should inoculate themselves with Measles vaccine.
Dr. Oz's comment is remarkable in the light of vaccine skepticism within the Trump administration in general and by his boss, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, in particular.
POLIO
Oral Vaccine the Source of Recent Surge in Polio
The recent surge in Polio cases in the U.S., Israel and other nations is being fueled by oral vaccine itself, marking an era of uncertainty as the world is at the threshold of eliminating polio. According to the August 22, 2022, edition of The Dallas Morning News, 396 cases of polio were attributable to wild virus since 2017 while more than 2,600 cases had erupted from the oral vaccine. Oral polio vaccine contains a mild form of live polio virus and 2 to 4 children may catch polio out of about 2 million oral vaccine doses.
