WASHINGTON, D.C. — A growing measles outbreak in Pennsylvania is putting the spotlight on vaccine skepticism and trust, or a lack thereof, in public health guidance.
Pennsylvania has seen 119 new cases in the past week alone, nearly one-third of the almost 1,000 total cases are individuals under the age of 18. Out of nearly 3,700 reported measles cases nationwide, 943 are in Pennsylvania — the most in the U.S.
Five measles-related deaths have been reported by the state’s health department.
“The entire Shapiro administration from the governor down is taking Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak seriously,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen in a video from Sept. 11.
“This is the largest and deadliest outbreak in Pennsylvania in 35 years and in the United States for that amount of time,” said Dr. Tyler Evans, an adult infectious diseases and addiction medicine specialist and the CEO and founder of Wellness Equity Alliance.
According to new bipartisan polling commissioned by the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease (PFID), surveying more than 1,000 voters’ views on vaccines, 89% said vaccines are essential for public health. However, 60% believe confusion around recommendations from the federal government is impacting vaccination rates.
“You do have some high-profile people speaking out against the concept of vaccination, and that has been, in my opinion, harmful,” said Dr. Michael Burgess, a former Republican congressman from North Texas as well as a physician and obstetrician. “The fact remains is that measles is a highly contagious illness. And if you are not vaccinated, the risk that you may become unintentionally exposed is quite high, because unfortunately, the person who has measles, who is exposing people may not know that for four days before symptoms appear.”
“It really should’ve never been about politics. It’s really more biology and medicine,” said Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. “As a father, all of my children and all of my family, including myself, are fully vaccinated. And I strongly believe in that.”
The recent outbreak in Sen. John Fetterman’s state is especially visible in close-knit communities with lower vaccination rates.
“It’s troubling. But overall, it seems to be primarily the Amish communities within Lancaster County,” said Fetterman.
“There are sort of challenges with respect to getting vaccinations or general health care to some of those communities,” said Dr. Evans, the author of Pandemics, Poverty, and Politics.
Dr. Evans says the best tool to fight the outbreak is with the full two doses of the MMR vaccine, which is 97% effective at preventing measles.
But trust remains complicated, especially when it comes to preventing something that many have never seen.
“Measles isn’t real, right, to a lot of people. Measles is this abstract disease that people don’t hear about. It existed in like the 19th or early 20th century,” said Dr. Evans. “And so, prevention is really hard to sell to people, and especially now that it’s become so politically divided.”
“MMR vaccine has been around since the early 1960s. It’s been around so long, people have kind of forgotten these diseases because no one has them anymore,” said Dr. Burgess.
The former Republican congressman stresses to trust professionals who know your family’s health the best.
“Don’t get your health information from the television. Don’t get your health information from a press conference. Get your health information from your doctor. Your doctor knows you best. Your doctor knows your child best,” said Dr. Burgess.
Dr. Evans said the cases of people who have actually been infected, particularly those who have been hospitalized, are fewer than 1% were in the fully vaccinated individuals.
“This is this is almost purely a sort of a case of people not getting vaccinated for something that is very much preventable,” said Dr. Evans.
