Something to Think About When It Comes to the Measles Outbreaks
June 5, 2025
More than five years after it began, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues, with stories about it almost every week.
It affected schools and students who got behind. It affected businesses and the way they do business, with some not even still in business. It affected the whole economy.
And it also led to changes in some Americans’ views of vaccines.
That’s one of the stories in the news this week in connection with the current measles outbreaks scattered across the country.
A report this week said that childhood vaccination rates against measles fell in the years after the pandemic in nearly 80% in a survey of more than 2,000 U.S. counties that includes states with measles outbreaks.
According to a study by the respected Johns Hopkins University, most of the measles cases in the U.S. this year, more than nearly 2,000 so far, as of a few days ago, are in unvaccinated people.
That may not sound like a lot nationwide. But 25 years ago, in 2000, measles was declared eradicated in the United States, gone, thanks to the vaccine, which has been considered safe and effective for many decades.
Just one of many things to think about when we think of the pandemic.
(Photo Getty Images)