• RFK Jr. calls outbreaks concerning and mentions vaccines, but stops short of recommending them.
• Utah has no measles cases, but hasn’t achieved the vaccine rate needed for herd immunity.
• Beehive State allows vaccine exemptions for personal, religious and medical reasons.

The measles outbreak in Texas appears to have spread into neighboring New Mexico, a fact that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dubbed concerning.

Cases have also been detected in other states.

In an opinion column for Fox News Sunday, Kennedy noted a rapidly escalating situation with close to 150 cases since late January, most involving children, including one death.

Kennedy, who has often expressed skepticism of vaccines, including the mumps, measles and rubella or MMR vaccine, said that “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.”

In his column, Kennedy was referring to herd immunity. When 95% of the population is immune from measles because of being vaccinated or because they’ve previously had measles, spread is sharply curbed and can’t easily reach those who are still susceptible.

The U.S. and most of its states, including Utah, are not there yet when it comes to protection against measles, which has long been considered eliminated in the U.S. Health experts warn that could change.

Kennedy didn’t counsel everyone to get vaccinated. Instead, he said that “parents play a pivotal role in safeguarding their children’s health. All parents should consult with their healthcare providers to understand their options to get the MMR vaccine,” calling the decision “a personal one.”

He also touted more unusual measures, like cod liver oil and vitamin A, which are not preventive.

As of Feb. 27, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 164 U.S. measles cases, most of them believed to involve people who had not received the MMR vaccine. At least 32 of the individuals had been hospitalized. The vast majority of cases are in Texas.

Are Utahns apt to be vaccinated?

Measles was officially declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, CDC reported, “meaning there is no measles spreading within the country and new cases are only found when someone contracts measles abroad and returns to the country.” CDC calls elimination of the extremely contagious disease “a historic public health achievement.”

Vaccination has been considered key to that, but vaccination of kindergartners has fallen from 95.2% in the 2019-20 school year to 92.7% in the 2023-24 school year nationally.

In the U.S., just shy of 91% of children have been vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella by 24 months old, according to an immunization table from the National Center for Health Statistics in the CDC.

Utah doesn’t have any measles cases this year. In 2015, the Beehive State had one case, then three in 2017 and one in 2023. Those cases were related to travel.

Speculation that Utahns almost universally support vaccines is not true. But the share who have received a first-dose MMR vaccine is slightly above regional (64.8%) and national (65.4%) averages, per the Utah official who oversees the state’s immunization program.

Rich Lakin, immunization director from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, told Deseret News this week that Utah’s rate is 66.5% of those 13 months old.

By age 3, numbers are higher. Utah does “pretty good” with 91.1% of children born in 2021 (the latest group with data) having received at least one MMR vaccine dose by around 35 months of age.

That’s shy of the 95% that would confer herd immunity, though, Lakin said.

“I’m hoping that Utahns will continue to see the importance of this vaccine,” he said.

Utah is in region 8, which includes Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

With measles spreading in US, health experts emphasize prevention

The CDC estimated that Utah children who have received all of the mandated vaccines, including MMR, required for kindergartners in the 2023-24 school year was 88.8%. That’s compared to 88.3% for Colorado, 91% for North Dakota, 90.8% for South Dakota and 93.5% for Wyoming. Montana data is not available.

Utah allows parents to apply for exemptions to kindergarten vaccination requirements for personal, religious or medical reasons. The state’s Immunization Dashboard reports that in 2023-24, 84.9% of exemptions granted were for personal reasons, 13% religious and 2.1% were for medical reasons. Of the 44,913 kindergarten students enrolled last year in in-person schools, 87% were adequately immunized, just under 8% were exempted, and not quite 1% were out of compliance. The others had conditional enrollment.

About measles

Measles is caused by a virus and begins with high fever, cough, runny nose and eyes that are red and watery. The bumpy rash comes after. Complications can include ear infection and pneumonia.

It spreads like crazy in part because it hangs around in the air for a couple of hours after someone coughed or sneezed or even just spoke, so one can walk through it unaware and breathe it in.

Measles can also be contagious days before symptoms appear or after the rash has resolved, so it’s hard to control spread simply by staying away from those who might be ill. The Utah Department of Health and Human Services reports that 9 of 10 people exposed to measles are apt to be infected if they don’t have immunity from a previous case or a vaccination.