The Growing Danger of Measles

from The New York Times this is the. daily I'm Kim. [Music]. serson amel's outbreak continues to. spread in Texas where more than 200. people have been infected one child has. died and health experts are now. concerned that low vaccination rates. will make it harder to. contain today my colleague Teddy Rose.

Blues takes us into the epicenter of the. outbreak and explains whether its rapid. spread and the government's response to. it signals a turning point in how. America views Public. [Music]. Health it's Wednesday March. [Music]. 12th Teddy welcome thank you like most. people I don't really think about.

measles being much of a threat you may. hear about an outbreak but it gets. contained we all move on this outbreak. doesn't seem to be going away can you. lay out for me why it's different yes so. part of the reason that you probably. don't think very much about measles even. though it's an incredibly contagious. virus is because it's vaccine. preventable it's been eliminated in the. United States since 2000 which means. there'll be cases here and there but.

it's not continuously spreading and so. we've seen these other outbreaks you. know we saw one in New York we saw one. in Washington but experts are looking at. this outbreak a little bit differently. and that's because one a child has died. and two because childhood vaccination. rates have been falling for some time. and that fall really accelerated during. the pandemic and just hasn't rebounded. and so in some pockets of the United. States what we're seeing.

is that vaccination rates for the. measles MPS rubella vaccine the MMR shot. have fallen far below where experts. would want them to be and those Pockets. have multiplied and gotten bigger really. raising concerns that these once. isolated outbreaks are going to travel. further and infect more people and. that's what's happening in Texas. specifically right right so walk me. through this when did it start and where. are we now so the first couple cases.

started popping up at the end of January. and they were these kids who belonged to. a very large menonite population that. settled in West Texas in the. 1970s in this population there is no. religious doctrine that says that they. cannot be vaccinated but historically. they have had low vaccine uptake just. because they don't interact with the. medical system as often as the broader. Community right and and as I understand. they're much more relying on natural. remedies yes a long tradition of.

holistic medicine that sort of thing. okay but the lack of vaccination uptake. in that area sort of gives measles the. oxygen that it needs to spread rapidly. through the community mhm and so by the. end of February we saw more than 120. cases right and then 2 months later. we're now up to more than 200. cases and now we're also seeing a. separate but likely related outbreak in. New Mexico in a county that borders.

where this outbreak has been happening. in Texas and unfortunately we've seen. two deaths related to these. outbreaks so I was really interested in. seeing what an outbreak of measles looks. like this is a virus that many people. have never seen in their lifetimes so I. started to call some doctors call some. Public Health officials and ultimately. decided to travel down there myself.

okay so you land in West Texas take me. through how your trip started sure so. maybe just set the scene a little bit. what West Texas is known for is you know. four things cotton mhm peanuts oil and. this big menonite Community what is it. it's a 35y old so I spent time at the. hospital that serves this community. seminal Memorial Hospital in Gaines.

County Texas which is the epicenter of. this big measles outbreak causing the. estation tube to clog. up this Dr Pary I was shadowing Dr. Wendell Parky the director of The Family. Clinic there the kid may may have. headache or earaches because of the. sinuses being swollen and at the clinic. they have divided their day into two in. the morning they do all the wellness. visits they see the pregnant women they. do checks to make sure infants are he.

and then at 1 p.m. sort of everything. shifts everyone puts on n95 masks and. that's when they start seeing the. measles. cases and Dr Parky who has worked in the. area for almost three decades he has not. seen ael's case before this year he'd. only seen it in medical textbooks wow. but he has become very good at spotting. these cases and it's not because of the. rash which you might think literally.

even if you didn't see the rash you can. look across the room and go oh man they. don't look all. frisky they look like they don't feel. good it's because all of these kids come. in with this very distinctive look it. looks like they're staring you know 100. miles away very vacant expression these. kids are sick she has been very sick and. so I got to see this for myself with one. patient this 8-year-old girl in the room. with her.

mom shine good you and this little girl. did not speak any English she spoke low. German which is a regional dialect that. many menites speak so she had the rash. like Wednesday or something yes was. Wednesday Thursday W Thursday Friday you. know she was unvaccinated and recovering. from a really nasty case of measles and. she had that thousand yard stare and. what does she usually like is she. usually energetic oh yeah this is a. little kid that you would expect to be.

bouncing around the room of bothering. her mother and she was you know really. not feeling well and not responding I'm. going to can you lay. down thank you and at one point they go. and give her this injection in her thigh. which Dr Parky prescribed to help manage. some of her symptoms and I'm looking at. this needle and you know it's like 2 or. 3 in. Long right there no.

she didn't even cry no she's fine you're. good you're done I want to put her bendy. and she just stares Straight Ahead. doesn't even Flinch as that needle goes. into her leg oh my goodness I have never. seen a child who didn't react when they. got a shot I know that poor kid must. have been very sick very thank you B. bitan you're welcome so what's her. trajectory like what happens to a a. child who gets measles so the first.

symptoms that they'll probably. experience the runny nose a cough a. fever you know they get these crusty. eyes that look a little red and. irritated and then you start to develop. that iconic measles rash which is these. flat red spots that start at the top of. your body and spread downwards to cover. your arms your neck your entire trunk. and for most kids and adults these.

symptoms will resolve within a few weeks. but for some kids measles can be really. dangerous about one in 20 kids develop. pneumonia which makes it really. difficult to get oxygen into the lungs. you know some kids have to be. hospitalized maybe even put on a. ventilator one in a thousand kids get in. sephtis you know swelling of the brain. which can cause permanent damage.

blindness deafness intellectual. disability and then of course in rare. cases children can. [Music]. die Teddy you spoke with the mother of. the girl the unvaccinated girl who. didn't Flinch when she got the shot. right yes well what was going through. her mind so this is a woman who had. vaccinated three of her children they. was and the third child started acting.

weird after that one but she felt as. though you know after her third child. got the vaccine it turned him angry. there are so many vaccines that you have. to get now yeah and in the earli Years. there was that much it's good anymore. right and after that you know combined. with things that she had heard from the. community about the risks of the vaccine. she decided that she wasn't going to. vaccinate any more of her children and. as a result several of her children fell.

ill with measles during this outbreak. and she was just exhausted the little. one is crying the whole day how old is. the little one two three okay that must. be awful yes that's really but I asked. her whether this changed anything for. her whether she regretted not getting. her younger kids vaccinated like did you. think about maybe I should get the. vaccine for me no and she basically said. no so I really wanted to go deeper to.

understand more fully how people are. making these decisions what's wrong so I. connected with this mom of four in. seal on my toe yeah you have a spack on. your toe a woman named Ansley class in. can you put your shoes on please I hear. H yeah I met her at a park just a few. blocks away from the hospital and you. know this is a mom who is really scared. of her kids getting me you know she's.

pregnant herself she understands the. risks to pregnant women to young kids. anbre I know that there are people that. are not going to you know quarantine. like they need to and that's really. scary cuz I don't want to catch it and I. don't want my children in the hospital. for it and are her kids vaccinated she. has vaccinated one of her kids up to one. year okay but around that time is when. the covid-19 pandemic started and that. is went a lot of misinformation around.

vaccines around the medical system. started swirling around on social media. and she decided not to get any of her. other kids vaccinated but there was just. so much fear and so much just people. like you need to vaccinate like just. kind of being a little pushy on the. topic I didn't like that and when this. outbreak first started she considered. getting the MMR vaccine for her kids. like I said she knows that it's a. serious disease and there's just like I.

said so much uncertainty and there are. stories that you can read that people. like multiple hours after they got the. vaccine they have had effects and but. she had seen these scary stories on her. mom groups on social media on Tik Tok of. kids suddenly dying after getting shots. which is not something that happens or. is common at all ultimately she and her. husband prayed on it and decided not to. get her kids vaccinated.

so Teddy it sounds like during Co when. there was so much division over vaccines. and that moment when everybody seemed to. be in a panic over who they could trust. it was in that moment that Ansley. herself lost trust with the broader. public health system which of course we. know is meant to protect everyone in a. community right and you know there are. lots of vulnerable people in the. community that are impacted by a virus. as contagious as nles you know there are.

babies who are too young to get the. vaccine there are pregnant people who. aren't eligible to get the shot and. people who are imuno compromised who. can't build up that immunity themselves. I saw a patient of Dr paries a teacher. who had gotten the MMR vaccine but she. was imuno compromised so she ended up. getting just this really nasty case of. measles you know the rash was covering. her torso it had spread under her hair.

her scalp was really sore she was. bedridden for a. week and this is sort of the point of. Public Health it's to protect everyone. and when you're talking about a disease. as contagious as measles this is what. can happen it can spread beyond the. people who just choose for themselves. not to get vaccinated. [Music].

we'll be right. [Music]. back Teddy how do we eliminate measles. in this country in the first place and. I'm asking because these cases are. increasing and I want to understand how. and I guess if we can stop them at this. point yeah so I think what a lot of. people don't appreciate when it comes to.

the elimination of measles is just how. widespread it was before the vaccine so. before it became available in the early. 1960s almost all children got measles by. the time they were 15 and about you know. 500 people died every year so this is. everywhere eliminating measles was a. really hard fought victory that took. about four decades. the end product of medicine's long match.

with measles the live attenuated virus. measles. vaccine and when you think of the covid. vaccine that's something that was. developed really quickly but that's not. what normally. [Music]. happens they had isolated the measles. virus in. 1954 they had started doing trials to. check the efficacy the side effects and. they didn't have a usable vaccine until.

1963 and then they had to get people to. take the vaccine right many parents. think of measles as just a common. nuisance but Physicians today know that. measles is more than a nuisance they had. to launch these massive campaigns to get. the vaccination rate as high as possible. supplies of the vaccine are ready for. shipment to doctors throughout the. country they poured funding into making. vaccines available and accessible they. made the vaccines that were required M. for public schools the goal was to get.

as many people as possible vaccinated to. starve this virus of oxygen as. increasing numbers of children are. vaccinated we will be well on the way to. eradicating the disease that down. through the centuries has killed. millions of children and left others. impaired mentally and. [Music]. physically and this is that phrase HT. immunity right right can you explain it. to me a little bit better so for a virus.

as contagious as measles and it's really. contagious right the most contagious one. person infected with measles can spread. it to 18 other people o yes so the idea. is you get as many people as possible. protected against measles so that if one. person in the community becomes infected. it has nowhere to go you've starved it. of oxygen essentially until it simmers. down and that's what the United States. stes was able to do right it got the.

vaccination rate high enough took away. the oxygen and the disease couldn't. spread exactly so the result of this big. public campaign to get people vaccinated. you know their requirements the funding. investment was essentially that by 2000. vaccination rates were above 95% and as. a country the US had eliminated this. disease it went from something that. pretty much everyone gets as a child. to something unheard.

of that is until vaccination rates. started coming. [Music]. down so if you look at the graphs of. rates of vaccination nationally it's. gone from 95 to 93% which doesn't sound. like a big deal but you have to think. that this isn't evenly distributed you. know you have some Pockets like in. Gaines County where you're closer to 8 %. which is a real danger zone and you know.

the more of these Pockets that you get. the more likely that these outbreaks are. going to hop from group to group and. those falling rates go hand inand with. the mistrust in the system that we. talked about you know it was always. there to some extent but really ramped. up during covid right and of course. there's this other thing that's changed. Trump won and he appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr as health secretary Kennedy's. been a huge promoter of vacine. skepticism and now by virtue of his.

position as a secretary is in charge of. the CDC which is the leading agency. responding to this outbreak so how is. RFK Jr's CDC doing so far so for the. most part during outbreaks like this. state and local officials are managing. the on the ground response and what the. CDC typically does is they are out front. encouraging everyone to get vaccinated. but several experts I spoke to thought.

that the reaction from federal health. officials this time around has been. really muted the CDC only posted their. first significant notice about the. outbreak almost a month after the first. cases in Texas started popping up one. epidemiologist I spoke to said they've. been quote shouting with a. whisper outbreak in Texas at the moment. in which a child is reported to a DI um. do you have concerns about that have you. asked then there was this cabinet.

meeting at the White House in February. where RFK Jr was asked about the. outbreak by reporters Bobby do you want. to speak on that we are following the. measles epidemic every day I think. there's 12 and he seemed to minimize it. there have been four measles outbreaks. this year in this country last year that. were 16 he said it was unusual and uh. there are about 20 people hospitalized. mainly for quarantine he falsely claimed.

that many of the people hospitalized. from this outbreak were there for. quarantine which is not true they were. there because they were sick MH and you. know after he faced push back from these. comments he changed his tune a little. bit Community I've spoken to the parents. of the child who died it was a very very. emotional and long conversation with. them so he went on Fox News and he did. this long interview he said he spoke to. the menite commun he talked to the.

family of the child who died at this. point we are recommending that people in. those communities get vaccines and he. actually comes out and says that you. know Health officials recommend the. vaccine for people in Gaines County but. almost moments later reasons with CDC in. the past has not done a good job at. quantifying the risk vaccines we he. starts talking about some of the risks. of getting vaccinated he says that there. are people in the menonite community who.

are quote unquote vaccine injured you. know again the risks of getting the MMR. vaccine are very low not going to tell. he even goes so far as to say at one. point we're going to return to the. hypocritic oath where doctors are. treating patients based upon what's best. for that patient rather than you know uh. what's best theoretically for the entire. Community that's the only way that you. know medicine should be focused on. individual health versus you know what. he says is theoretically good for the.

community and as I said we are. recommending that people in Gaines. County get vaccines where we are also. respectful of their personal choices and. so ultimately he's making a pretty weak. recommendation for vaccines and. emphasizing this idea of personal choice. so how do career Public Health officials. view this what are they thinking about. the outbreaks so I think a lot of. experts are really looking at what's. happening and County as a warning sign.

if vaccines rates dip any lower we are. at serious risk of these outbreak sort. of igniting on a national scale and it. you know it might not happen with this. outbreak but it might happen next year. and they're not just worried about this. one virus you know you can think about. measles sort of like a canary in the. coal mine you know when you see an. outbreak of measles it's likely that. other vaccine preventable infections are. not so far behind Teddy I wonder if. we're going to look back on this. outbreak and see it as something of a.

turning point I mean the idea for a long. time in this country was that public. health meant something needs to be done. for the greater good even if it's. distasteful or uncomfortable for the. individual but we're living through a a. moment where actually individual rights. are in the Forefront right we have an. Administration that's embraced that very. idea and it's to the point where even. the Secretary of Health won't directly. encourage people to get vaccinated you. know I think we might be at a turning.

point even on the ground at the heart of. this outbreak I talked to a public. health official in Seal who said he. recognizes that measles is an awful. virus and he wants people to get the. vaccine because he knows it can prevent. so many of these cases and. hospitalizations but he also said you. know this is Texas and people have the. right to do what they want with their. bodies. and so if people continue to make that.

choice and stay. unvaccinated we know what happens this. is an incredibly contagious virus and we. know what viruses do when they have. enough. [Music]. oxygen Teddy thank you thanks for having. me. [Music].

we'll be right. [Music]. back here's what else you need to know. today today we made an offer that the. ukrainians have accepted which is to. enter into a ceasefire and into on. Tuesday the Trump Administration. announced Ukraine had agreed to a US. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with. Russia following talks between the two.

countries in Saudi. Arabia American officials also said the. US would immediately resume military. assistance to Ukraine it was a major. breakthrough after a disastrous meeting. in the Oval Office in February between. President Trump and Ukrainian president. vmir zalinski hope we we'll take this. offer now to the Russians and we hope. that they'll say yes that they'll say. yes to peace the ball is now in their. court and um Secretary of State Marco. Rubio said that the proposed ceasefire. agreement now puts the pressure on.

Russia to end the war Russian officials. did not comment on the US proposal which. was announced just hours after Ukrainian. drones had targeted. Moscow also on Tuesday the Trump. Administration continued its dismantling. of the Department of Education. announcing that more than 1300 employees. will be laid off the department will now. be about half the size as it was when. Trump started his second term the.

president has long promised to eliminate. the department but it's a move he can't. make without the approval of. Congress today's episode was produced by. Will Reed and Alex Stern with help from. muj zi it was edited by Lexi Dio and. Paige cowt with help from Mark George. contains original music by Maran Lozano. Diane Wong and Dan Powell. it was engineered by Alysa Moxley our.

theme music is by Jim brumberg and Ben. Lanser of. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm Kim. serson see you tomorrow. [Music].