BC’s measles vaccination rate lower than in outbreak-hit Gaines County, Texas
Your Questions On Measles, Symptoms And The MMR Vaccine, Answered By Experts
Measles is still making headlines in 2025, prompting questions about the life-threatening disease and how to prevent it.
Here's what to know.
Measles outbreakThe largest measles outbreak so far this year has been in West Texas. Health officials have reported at least 223 cases including 29 hospitalizations since late January, as of a March 11 update. State and local health officials say the Texas outbreak is primarily affecting children and teenagers, nearly all of whom were unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.
In late February, a child died of measles after being hospitalized in that outbreak. State and local health officials said the patient who died was an unvaccinated school-aged child, but did not release their name or other details.
Measles cases have also been reported in a number of other states, including across the state line New Mexico, and in New Jersey, Georgia, California, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Michigan, Alaska and Pennsylvania.
An unvaccinated adult in New Mexico tested positive for measles after their death, health officials announced the first week of March, but said the official cause of death is still under investigation.
Without vaccination, measles can be dangerous or even deadly. While most people's symptoms improve, 1 in 5 unvaccinated people who catch measles will be hospitalized, 1 out of every 1,000 will develop brain swelling that can lead to brain damage, and up to 3 of every 1,000 will die.
The measles virus is airborne and extremely contagious. Before the first measles vaccine became available in the 1960s, almost everyone would catch it at some point during childhood, and between 400 and 500 Americans — mostly children — died every year from measles.
Symptoms typically begin about seven to 14 days after a person is exposed to the measles virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that the initial symptoms may appear similar to those of many other common viral illnesses, including:
Another characteristic sign is a rash that begins to develop a few days later. A patient's fever may spike to 104 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, the CDC says.
In some cases, serious complications can develop, including pneumonia or encephalitis, a swelling of the brain. Encephalitis may lead to convulsions and can cause deafness or leave a child with a lifelong intellectual disability, health officials warn.
As many as 1 out of every 20 children with measles will develop pneumonia, which the CDC says is the most common cause of death from measles in young children.
"The predominant issues that we talk about, and that have led patients to be admitted to the hospital, are those respiratory issues, and so that is a frequent cause of death," Dr. Lara Johnson, the chief medical officer at Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, said at a news conference on Feb. 26. At the time, she said, the hospital had seen about 20 patients admitted with confirmed measles cases, including several who needed intensive care.
"There are also neurological issues that can happen acutely — encephalitis, swelling of the brain, blindness, other issues along that line that can also be a part of acute measles," Johnson said.
She added, "There are lots of childhood rashes and fevers, and as parents, we all know that our kids get these here and there. This is not that. This is a much more serious illness that has much greater risk of serious complications."
Measles rashSeveral days after the first symptoms begin, characteristic tiny white spots develop inside the mouth, and a facial rash spreads to the rest of the body.
On "CBS Mornings," Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, described the rash as a "flat, blotchy red rash."
Measles immune amnesiaMeasles can also impact someone's immunity long after the infection is gone in a process called "immune amnesia," which can last months to a couple of years.
The virus can damage the immune system, Gounder recently explained, raising the risk of other infections even after the person has recovered.
"Measles infects immune cells, and when it does so, it damages immune cells and it partially wipes out your immune system's memory to certain infections, so that leaves you more susceptible to getting some of those infections," she said. "The best thing is not to get measles in the first place, and the best way to do that is to get vaccinated."
Why is there a measles outbreak?With safe, effective vaccines available, experts are pointing to lower vaccination rates as a reason why we're seeing these increasing cases. Health officials confirmed that nearly all of the patients in the Texas outbreak were not vaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status.
"It is troubling, because this was completely preventable," Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins, recently told CBS News. "What we're seeing is, one of the places in Texas — it has the lowest vaccination rates, the highest school exemption rates from measles vaccination — having a measles outbreak, including hospitalizations of individuals who've been infected with measles."
While measles is one of the most contagious infectious diseases, doctors and public health officials say the vaccine is safe and highly effective. It is normally given in two doses as part of the combination measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, which has been used for decades.
But nationwide, at least 10 states have seen childhood vaccination rates decline, jeopardizing communities' herd immunity from widespread outbreaks.
Like Texas, some Florida schools — such as an elementary school in Broward County last year — have seen measles outbreaks. The vaccination rate for Florida kindergartners has fallen to 88.1%, according to the CDC, the lowest in decades.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a history as a vaccine skeptic, voiced support for the measles vaccine in early March.
Kennedy said he was "deeply concerned about the recent measles outbreak" in an opinion piece published by Fox News.
"Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons," he wrote.
RFK Jr., measles and Vitamin AKennedy has also shared some misleading information about the potential role of vitamins in measles treatment and prevention.
In some studies, Vitamin A has been shown to reduce the severity of measles and the risk of death from the virus — but these studies were among highly malnourished populations in low-income countries. Research shows Vitamin A supplements are not a substitute for measles vaccination, even among severely malnourished groups.
"Vitamin A reduces the risk of some complications among severely malnourished kids who have Vitamin A deficiency. It does not prevent measles or the damage the infection does to the immune system," Gounder said. "Vitamin A is not a substitute for measles vaccination."
In the U.S., Vitamin A deficiency is rare, affecting less than 1% of the population. Too much Vitamin A can also lead to the risk of liver toxicity.
When do you get the measles vaccine?The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children get vaccinated with two doses of the MMR vaccine, with their first dose between the ages of 12 to 15 months.
"That's after the antibodies you get from your mom, through the placenta and through breast milk, have faded away, so that the vaccine will actually work — so there's a logic to when we vaccinate," Gounder explained.
Then the second dose is recommended at about 4 to 6 years of age.
One dose is 93% effective against measles and the recommended two doses is 97% effective, research shows. The vaccine also protects against mumps and rubella, also known as German measles, which are caused by different viruses.
Studies have also shown that the MMR vaccine, which was first introduced in 1971, may be given safely and effectively in combination with other vaccines.
But according to recent KFF polling, about 17% of parents say they have skipped or delayed a vaccine dose for their children.
"This is up from about 10% just two years ago. So we're really seeing a lot of exemptions [and] concerns about vaccination that are not warranted," Gounder said.
How long does the measles vaccine last?For most people, the MMR vaccine will protect you for life, Gounder said.
"If somebody is fully vaccinated against measles and has a normal immune system, they don't need to worry about measles," said Adalja. "You're not going to be at risk for contracting measles because the vaccine is very, very effective."
Who should get a measles booster?While most people have protection that lasts for life after getting vaccinated in early childhood, people born after 1957 but vaccinated before 1968 should consider a booster shot, Gounder said.
"That group is unlikely to have robust immunity from infection, because at that point in time, they were using less effective vaccines," she said.
There are also other people who could potentially benefit from getting a booster, she added, including those working in health care, overseas or in places where there is an active measles outbreak.
If you're unsure if or when you were vaccinated against the measles, start by tracking down your vaccination records if possible, Gounder advised. But, if you can't find those records, there is "no harm in getting an extra dose," she said, adding that no blood test confirmation is needed.
"That's actually what we would advise to do, as opposed to getting a blood test to see if there are antibodies — just get a booster if you're in doubt," she said.
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Sara MoniuszkoFamilies Are Asking Doctors If Kids Can Get The Measles Vaccine Ahead Of Schedule. Here's What To Know.
The CDC recommends children get the first dose of the MMR vaccine, which includes protection against measles, mumps, and rubella, when they are between 12 and 15 months old. The second dose is given when children are between the ages 4 and 6. Recently, parents have been asking if their kids can get the first shot before they turn 1 or the second shot before they're 4, pediatricians said.
"Our nurses are being inundated with calls from families," said Pring, who is also a pediatrician at a clinic in Boston and at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Somerville resident and mom Emily Hwang got her 2-year-old daughter her first measles vaccine when she was 1, on the recommended schedule. But the recent outbreak of measles led Hwang to get her daughter the second dose two years early.
"I contacted my pediatrician and asked, with the measles epidemic happening now, should I be doing something?" Hwang said. She added, "The doctor said it was safe for her to get a second one, and she recommended it."
Despite the surge in cases, experts said they still advise parents to vaccinate children on the CDC schedule unless they are traveling to areas with outbreaks. If parents do decide to give their kids the first vaccine dose before they turn 1, it would offer temporary protection but wouldn't count toward the two-vaccine series.
That's because before the age of one, a child's immune system is still developing, and a shot given that early isn't considered sufficient to provide long-term protection.
"A truly early dose is between 6 and 11 months, but we're not recommending that unless someone is going to an area with an outbreak," said Dr. Vandana Madhavan, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and primary care pediatrician at Mass General Hospital for Children.
Dr. Shirley Huang, chief of general pediatrics at Tufts Medical Center, said questions about early vaccination are increasingly coming from families who aren't traveling but are still concerned about exposure at day care or from people coming to visit from other states.
"What we're doing is asking for potential exposures if they are traveling, if they're traveling to states within the US with higher risk," Huang said. "We might recommend it at that point, but we're not recommending it to everybody."
Amy, a mom of two who lives outside Providence, R.I., is getting her 8-month-old daughter her first vaccine early, even though it won't count toward the two-dose series. Amy asked that her last name not be used for privacy reasons.
"We travel a decent amount, and we weighed the costs and benefits, and it seemed like the right move to get it now and get that protection for our little one," she said. Her 3-year-old got her first vaccine on schedule, and because it offers significant protection, Amy said the family isn't as concerned about her getting her second shot early but still wants to ask her pediatrician about it.
The first dose provides 93 percent protection from measles; the second dose boosts measles protection to 97 percent, according to the CDC.
"It doesn't feel super likely [that they'll get measles], but it also feels like the risk and the potential downsides are just so high that it feels like an easy thing to do to reduce that risk from nothing to zero," Amy said.
The second vaccine can be administered 28 days after the first dose, when the first dose is given after the age of 1. But the CDC recommends that it be given at 4 years old, because at that point, kids can receive a combined vaccine for MMR and varicella, or chicken pox.
"Historically, it's been at age 4 just to capture multiple different vaccines so we're not piecemeal giving, 'Here's this booster at 3, here's a booster at 3 1/2, etc,' and just doing a 4-year visit for a combination of vaccines," Madhavan said, adding that that age also coincides with when a child is likely to need other vaccinations to start kindergarten.
The CDC recommends a child's first MMR dose be given with a varicella vaccine, though separately and at different injection sites, Pring said. For the second dose, parents can choose between a child receiving one shot that protects against both MMR and varicella, or MMRV, or receiving the two vaccines separately.
"We typically don't [give the combination vaccine] to infants and young toddlers because of a higher rate of fevers and seizures with the combination vaccine," Madhavan said. Still, the risk of febrile seizure — a seizure caused by a high fever — is only 0.08 percent in children age 12-23 months old when they receive a combination vaccine. After a child turns 4, there is no difference in risk between the two options.
Madhavan said there is no downside to separately administering the second MMR dose 28 days from the first; it still offers generally life-long protection from measles.
"Certainly, if someone is traveling internationally or traveling to an area in the US with an outbreak and it's been four weeks since the first dose, we certainly recommend giving the second dose early," she added.
If a child does just get that first vaccine early out of precaution, experts said it's likely to reduce the severity of illness.
"There's significant protection, but this is why we need everybody to be vaccinated — so that if there is someone who is in that 5 percent that doesn't respond [to the vaccine], that they're not picking it up from someone else," Pring said.
Emily Spatz can be reached at emily.Spatz@globe.Com. Follow her on X @emilymspatz.
CDC Whistleblower On MMR Vaccine-autism Study Gains New Attention After Weldon Nomination Pulled
It took seven years for a "gender affirming care" practitioner at Children's Hospital Los Angeles to disclose the politically inconvenient results of her federally funded study: Gender-confused children on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones do not show mental-health improvement.
But it took even longer for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention senior scientist to disclose he and colleagues withheld a "statistically significant finding" from their peer-reviewed study of autism and measles, mumps and rubella vaccination in 2004: African-American males inoculated under age 3 had an increased risk for the disorder.
William Thompson's 2014 admission through whistleblower law firm Morgan Verkamp, which followed the release of secret recordings of his phone conversations with Simpson University biologist and autism researcher Brian Hooker, prompted attempted takedowns for the next several years in the media and pro-vaccine movement.
It appears in the 2016 documentary Vaxxed by British pediatric gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, which was deplatformed by Robert De Niro's Tribeca film festival.
Thompson's mea culpa takes on renewed relevance in the wake of President Trump yanking Dave Weldon's nomination as CDC director last week because "he did not have the votes" in the Senate, a decision Weldon traces in part to his interest as a Republican congressman, 20 years ago, in Wakefield's lightning-rod research on MMR vaccine side effects.
Investigative journalist Jon Rappoport elaborated on the connections in a Substack essay after Weldon's nomination died.
"Hey Dave, now that they dumped you on the side of the road […] how about giving inquiring minds a hand?" he wrote.
The CDC, which has a special page dedicated to MMR vaccination and autism, transferred Thompson in 2016 to the Division of Viral Hepatitis, where he remains a senior scientist. He has published several papers related to COVID-19 but not on vaccines.
Thompson told Just the News the CDC prohibits him from answering questions without permission, including whether it subjected him to stricter conditions at any point following his 2014 statement, which said the CDC gave him a "performance-based award" after he blew the whistle, and that "I have experienced no pressure or retaliation" from the agency.
"Ask the press office," he said when asked where the CDC gag order is documented. The agency didn't respond to queries.
Folic-acid deficiency and a generic too cheap to invest in further trials
The mainstream media and scientists have long looked for alternative explanations for autism to marginalize the vaccine narrative, and they recently found one: folic-acid deficiency based on a brain-receptor problem in children who develop autism.
CBS Evening News in mid-February featured doctors pursuing the hypothesis including pediatric neurologist Richard Frye, who is studying the off-label use of leucovorin.
A generic drug derived from folic acid that is prescribed for chemotherapy's side effects, leucovorin has produced speech improvements in autistic children in three randomized controlled trials in France, India and America, the latter led by Frye.
The problem is the drug is so cheap that there's no profit incentive to invest in the larger clinical trials needed for Food and Drug Administration approval to treat autism, Frye said.
Now, Weldon's derailed nomination – in the context of the medical establishment's two decades of trying to eradicate the vaccine-autism narrative – may have temporarily sucked the oxygen out of the room for alternative explanations for autism.
The CDC study coauthored by Thompson claimed similar percentages of children with autism (70.5%) and without (67.5%) were vaccinated for MMR between 12 and 17 months, and "similar proportions" each before 18 and 24 months, "the age by which atypical development is usually recognized in children with autism."
"No significant associations for either of these age cutoffs were found for specific case subgroups, including those with evidence of developmental regression," said the paper, published in the American Academy of Pediatrics' journal Pediatrics.
While the full paper is hidden behind a paywall, the abstract page shows no sign of update 11 years after Thompson disclosed the findings for African-American males under 3.
The only apparent change is a 2018 retraction demand posted to the abstract's comments section by autism researcher Toby Rogers, now a Brownstone Institute fellow.
"I have a boss who's asking me to lie"
In one of Thompson's surreptitiously recorded phone calls with autism researcher Hooker, the CDC senior scientist said "the CDC is so paralyzed right now by anything related to autism" that it was 10 years behind on research.
Hooker's own study, which reanalyzed the CDC data used by Thompson, found the same effect on African-American boys but starting with inoculation before age 2. It was published by Translational Neurodegeneration the same day as Thompson's law firm statement.
The journal retracted it several weeks later, citing "undeclared competing interests" and "the validity of the methods and statistical analysis."
Hooker told CNN the CDC study excluded children without birth certificates. The agency said it gave results for "all children initially recruited for the study" and a subset with birth certificates, which included "more complete information on race" and other traits.
The CDC was not being "transparent" and Congress should demand its data for an "independent constructor" to review and have autism advocates "intimately involved in the study," Thompson told Hooker. "I have a boss who's asking me to lie," and if Thompson were "forced to testify … I'm not going to lie. I basically have stopped lying."
Thompson's since-removed statement through his law firm takes pains to emphasize his support for childhood vaccination in general.
"My concern has been the decision to omit relevant findings in a particular study for a particular sub group for a particular vaccine," he said.
"I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information" from the Pediatrics paper, he said. "Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after the data were collected, and I believe that the final study protocol was not followed."
Thompson spoke with Hooker over 10 months about CDC research on "vaccines and neurodevelopmental outcomes including autism spectrum disorders" and agrees that "CDC decision-making and analyses should be transparent," but said Hooker hid recording and did not give Thompson "any choice" on his name and voice being made public.
He is giving information to Florida GOP Rep. William Posey, "will continue to cooperate with Congress" and has "offered to assist with reanalysis of the study data or development of further studies," but Thompson will not answer further questions "at this time," he said.
Posey has repeatedly spoken of his interest in what causes autism, at least as far back as a 2012 hearing. He did so again in a 2014 hearing before Thompson's disclosure and specifically mentioned Thompson's statement in a 2015 floor speech and again several weeks later, "speeches that have generated little congressional reaction," The Hill reported.
"I actually give hundreds of vaccines every year"
The day before Weldon's scheduled confirmation hearing, medical publisher STAT ran a 2,200-word feature on his "long and deep" support for "anti-vaccine theories" based on his congressional archives at the Florida Institute of Technology and interviews with health officials.
After his pulled nomination, Weldon told supporters the White House gave him 12 hours' notice before the hearing and that Health and that Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Told him Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins "now had reservations" about his nomination.
Collins' staff had "suddenly" turned hostile to Weldon at their March 11 meeting, he wrote in the letter, because he had "raised some concerns about childhood vaccine safety" as a congressman and they now considered him "antivax," despite Weldon's assurance that "I actually give hundreds of vaccines every year in my medical practice."
Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., had already asked "once" to withdraw Weldon's nomination, "throwing around the claim that I was 'antivax' or that I believed that vaccines cause autism which I have never said," Weldon said, so "losing Collins too was clearly too much for the White House."
Cassidy also ordered National Institutes of Health nominee Jay Bhattacharya to not further study a possible vaccine-autism link.
Weldon suspects the pharmaceutical industry "put serious pressure on Collins and Cassidy" because it couldn't tank Kennedy's nomination. "Many people feel big Pharma actually feared me more than they feared Bobby because of my credibility and my knowledge of science," he said.
Months after The Lancet's editors applied a scarlet letter to British pediatrician Wakefield's 1998 paper on MMR vaccines and autism, based on allegedly undisclosed conflicts of interest with a vaccine-injury group, STAT reported Weldon sought House Appropriations Committee funding for an autism research center led by Wakefield.
In the same March 2004 Lancet issue, 10 of Wakefield's 12 coauthors issued a "retraction of an interpretation," declaring the "data were insufficient" to show a "causal link" between MMR vaccination and autism – an erroneous view with "major implications for public health."
Wakefield and two coauthors retorted that the paper never claimed "a causal association" but said Wakefield "bears some responsibility" for his comments in a press briefing that were based on "a detailed investigation of the history of [the] MMR vaccine and its safety," including a 2003 systematic review by the international research collaborative Cochrane.
The Lancet retracted the study in 2010 on the grounds that the paper made false claims about the recruitment of children and ethics approval, based on the U.K. General Medical Council's finding nine days earlier that Wakefield had acted unethically. The GMC's report said "this case is not concerned with whether there is or might be" an MMR vaccine-autism link.
Weldon said Wakefield had been railroaded.
"To defend himself in court would have cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars, so he let them take his license away," he told supporters.
"The CDC was charged with the responsibility of repeating the Wakefield research and showing that the measles vaccine was safe, but they never did it the right way," conducting "epidemiologic studies instead of a clinical study" and allegedly "changing the protocol and data analysis until the association went away," Weldon said.
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