SHOTS HEALTH NEWS – A measles outbreak in West Texas is continuing to spread. And with kindergarten vaccination rates dipping across the country, more communities may be at risk of outbreaks.
But it’s not just kids who should be vaccinated. Infectious disease experts say some adults may need to get revaccinated, too.
Measles can spread incredibly fast — it’s one of the world’s most contagious diseases, more than flu, polio, COVID, or just about any other infectious disease.
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, notes that just last week, West Texas was reporting 14 cases. This week, it’s up to 58 cases. “It’s very hard to control measles,” he says.
The best defense against measles is vaccination. The vast majority of people getting sick in Texas are unvaccinated. And the measles vaccine is both safe and highly effective, says Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
“If you have been vaccinated with two doses of vaccine as per routine, you have a 95-plus percent chance of being completely protected throughout your life,” Schaffner says.
But public health experts say there are some adults who should consider getting revaccinated. That includes older adults who were born after 1957 and were vaccinated before 1968.
That’s because early versions of the measles vaccine were made from an inactivated (killed) virus, which didn’t work particularly well, Offit says.
That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone vaccinated before 1968 get at least one dose of the live attenuated vaccine.
Before the first measles vaccines were developed in the 1960s, nearly everyone got the disease during childhood. So people born before 1957 are assumed to have natural immunity.
Schaffner says if you’re not sure of your immunity or vaccination status, there’s no harm in getting a shot …
