New York declares end to year-long measles outbreak, maintaining US elimination status

The New York State Department of Health declared last week the end of a nearly year-long measles outbreak within the state that had put the United States at risk of losing its measles elimination status.

In all, 1,249 cases of measles ravaged the United States over the year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In all, they spread through 31 states, though the bulk — 75 percent — were linked to New York. Complicating matters were misinformation and a resultant hesitancy to vaccinate children, especially among the state’s Orthodox Jewish communities. By the end, the figures marked the greatest number of measles cases in the country since 1992.

“We are very pleased that the measles outbreak has ended in New York and that measles is still considered eliminated in the United States,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said. “This result is a credit to the cooperative work by local and state health departments, community and religious leaders, other partners, and the CDC.”

While the outbreaks were exacerbated by a growing and dangerous trend of vaccination skepticism, their origins were not local. The DHHS reports that unvaccinated travelers brought measles back from other countries in October 2018 — a perpetual danger, as measles is not eliminated in many other countries throughout the world. The less vaccinated a community is, the more opportunities for it to take root and spread.

Had the outbreak lasted longer than a year, the U.S. measles elimination status would have been immediately stripped. The U.S. is not the only country to struggle with vaccination rates and measles in recent days, however. Elimination status has already been removed from the United Kingdom, Greece, Venezuela, and Brazil in the last year. The World Health Organization reports that in the first six months of 2019, there were more measles cases worldwide than at any point since 2006.

“Our Nation’s successful public health response to this recent measles outbreak is a testament to the commitment and effectiveness of state and local health departments, and engaged communities across the country,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said. “CDC encourages Americans to embrace vaccination with confidence for themselves and their families. We want to emphasize that vaccines are safe. They remain the most powerful tool to preserve health and to save lives. The prevalence of measles is a global challenge, and the best way to stop this and other vaccine-preventable diseases from gaining a foothold in the U.S. is to accept vaccines.”