Residents could grow to 34 cases in North Dakota at the 2023 festival in downtown Fargo, giving it the highest percentage in the state, with New Mexico and Texas likely to follow. (Photo Visited Photo Fargo-Moorhead)

As ultra-conventional measles continues to spread and approaches the six-year US record, the incident at the original western Texas epicenter may subside as he is more concerned and willing to vaccinate.

The reality of measles may have overcome vaccine misinformation in several areas, despite the role of experts from the decision-making role in the Trump administration under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who played the decision-making role in the country’s top vaccine experts. Resignation We’re putting pressure on March.

And on June 11th, Kennedy appointed eight new members of the Vaccination Advisory Committee. Vaccine Critics – After dismissing all 17 members of the group two days ago. Kennedy called his actions “a big step towards restoring public confidence in the vaccine.”

However, the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy Called Commission’s mass exchange “One of the darkest days in modern public health history.” American Infectious Disease Association Called The move, “reckless, shortsighted and grossly harmful,” states Kennedy’s criticism of the original 17 committee members “is entirely unfounded.”

In West Texas, where outbreaks are concentrated, Lubbock has not seen any new cases in 20 days, said Catherine Wells, the city’s director of public health. The area is east of Texas’ biggest outbreak, concentrated in Mennonite communities that opposed religiously to vaccination.

Wells attributed recent success to a combination of more vaccinations, public awareness campaigns, and willingness to stay home when you’re sick to avoid infection.

“There’s so much information about the risks and bad side effects of vaccines, so I spoke with people who can look at it from a parent’s perspective. “Why am I giving it to my kids?” “Now they saw measles in their community, so now they’re thinking, ‘OK, now I’m going to get vaccinated.” ”

Outbreak moves north

But in North Dakota, 34 state lawsuits gave the highest rates in the country, followed by New Mexico and Texas, according to the North Dakota Public Health Association, a nonprofit health advocacy group. analysis of individual state data on Facebook. The state’s First case since 2011 It was reported on May 2nd.

“This is not the result of a failure in local public health,” the organization posted. “This is the result of people in the community choosing not to vaccinate their children and resisting urgent efforts to increase local public health recommendations and vaccination uptake.”

Dr. Stephen McDonough, a North Dakota pediatrician and former state health officer, said he had not seen any signs of improvement in the state. He doubts that recent federal movements will do anything but make the situation worse.

“The outbreak in North Dakota is real, has not yet reached its peak and is expanding,” McDonough said in an interview. “It was only a matter of time before North Dakota experienced measles outbreak due to low vaccination rates.”

Students from Minot, North Dakota Middle School Band Cancel the trip To the Regional Band Festival and Parade in May for the outbreak. Approximately 150 unvaccinated children were asked to quarantine for 21 days to avoid further spread.

North Dakota had a 90% vaccination rate among kindergarteners in the 2024-2025 academic year. According to State records. To stop measles transmission, vaccination coverage is required at 95% or more.

Jenny Galbraith, vaccination manager for the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, said a small population in North Dakota is misleading measles rates.

However, the state has struggled with low vaccination rates in recent years as more parents advocate exemptions based on individual philosophy, religion or other reasons permitted by state law. With about 7% of children exempt, it’s almost impossible to achieve the goal of 95% vaccination, she said.

One hopeful sign is that North Dakota has not seen a new measles incident since May 28th, Galbraith said. “We haven’t left the woods yet, so it’s hard to say it’s getting better,” she said.

Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the US county and city health authorities, says it’s not always possible to overcome vaccine misinformation in rural areas where it has taken root.

The rise in vaccinations is generally in areas where people are already vaccinated,” she said. She said that “it’s more eerie about the vaccine and is harder to penetrate due to misinformation,” not in areas like North Dakota or parts of Oklahoma. There is Texas County in Oklahoma 16 confirmed casesalmost all of them among people who have not been vaccinated.

However, local officials can continue to emphasize the benefits of vaccination and the need to stay home when measles symptoms appear. Freeman said he advises people who don’t want to be vaccinated are more likely to listen.

“It’s embarrassing that we lost three people to measles on this day and age,” she said.

Texas’ “cautiously optimistic”

According to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention update On June 13, there were 1,197 confirmed cases affecting 34 states. Navajo County, Arizona, reported its first four lawsuits this week.

According to the CDC, there have been 21 measles outbreaks this year, defined as clusters of three or more related cases. The case is currently more than four times the height of last year. And it’s under half the year, and the number of cases is trapped at 2019’s highest 1,274.

That’s still a small number compared to almost 28,000 cases in 1990 when the California outbreak hit low-income areas. Low vaccination rate.

The total number of cases increases, but the number of new infections per week is drop This is the first time since the peak of 116 in late March.

In Texas, people who have not been vaccinated have been vaccinated or infected and gained immunity, which slowed the outbreak, said Lala Anton, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Health.

“The number of new cases in West Texas is slowing down and we are cautiously optimistic if this trend continues,” Anton said.

Current states affected by confirmed measles cases this year: Alaska, Arizona, Arizona, Arizona, California, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Maryland, Myrigan, Minnesota, Montana, Missouri, Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the new measles statistics released on June 13th.

Access to Stateline Reporter Tim Henderson thennerson@stateline.org.

Stateline It is a nonprofit news network that is part of the state newsroom and supports a coalition of grants and donors as a public charity of 501C(3). Stateline maintains editorial independence. For questions, please contact editor Scott S. Greenberger. info@stateline.org.