Measles would be gone if we wanted it to be. We’ve had a highly effective, safe vaccine for it for 60 years. But because of rising anti-vaccine sentiments, measles is back, with recent cases in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Virginia. Unless we tackle the misinformation that is at the root of vaccine hesitancy, more children will get sick from this and other nasty, preventable diseases in 2024.
The U.S. is not the only high-income country seeing measles outbreaks. Europe saw a thirty-fold increase in cases last year. In England, the West Midlands is currently experiencing its highest rates since the 1990s, with health leaders urging a national call to action on measles. Officials in Sydney, Australia have recently issued a measles alert as cases are being identified there. The problem is even worse in low-and-middle countries, with measles still common in many countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Globally, there were an estimated 9 million cases and 136,000 deaths in 2022 alone.
Measles is one of the world’s most contagious diseases, infecting about 90% of unvaccinated people who come into close contact with an infected person. Because it spreads so quickly, measles is a good litmus test for how vaccinated a population is , highlighting gaps in countries’ immunization coverage and warning of possible future infectious-disease outbreaks. The good news is that measles is highly preventable: even one dose out of the recommended two is 93% effective. Unfortunately, about 1 in 5 children globally haven’t received a single measles shot.
Vaccine hesitancy is on the rise
Global vaccination programs have stalled over the past few years due to the pandemic and other factors like conflict and displacement. However, one of the other major reasons we are seeing a measles resurgence is vaccine hesitancy. Even before COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy was identified by the WHO as one of the biggest threats to human health. It’s gotten worse since then. Ironically, at the same time the world has witnessed one of the biggest vaccine successes of the past half century—the rapid development and use of COVID-19 vaccines—global confidence in vaccines has plummeted.