Georgia public health leaders on Tuesday underscored the gravity of the Texas measles outbreak, and expressed concern over the impact of misinformation from Washington.
Three unvaccinated people are the only Georgia measles cases so far this year. All recovered. Georgia Department of Public Health workers in a public meeting Tuesday recounted how swift action — in identifying the cases, getting the patients to isolate and then tracing their contacts with other people — had closed off the spread.
But they emphasized that the measles virus is enormously infectious. Because of that, vaccination of large numbers of people is the only way to prevent outbreaks.
The Texas outbreak has now spread to Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico and Mexico, and includes a day care center in Lubbock. Texas officials held a video briefing Tuesday, and said the cases in that state alone have surpassed 500, and they were prepared for the outbreak to continue for a year.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the numbers of infected in the outbreak are almost certainly in the thousands because of a lack of reporting, not the 600 or so confirmed. In that outbreak, two children and one adult have died. None of the three deceased patients were vaccinated, and most of the cases are also in unvaccinated people.
Measles is most dangerous in children, who can be killed or in rare cases suffer a neurological disorder from it years later. But more often, people of all ages who get measles can get something called “immune amnesia,” where the body’s immune system forgets how to work against other diseases. Immune amnesia can last for years.
Dr. Jim Curran, chairman of the Georgia Board of Public Health, praised Georgia’s response to its three cases this year — and expressed deep concern over growing antivaccine sentiment. The state Board of Health provides guidance to the state Department of Public Health. Curran made his comments during the board’s monthly meeting.
Curran described to the board news reports that the mother of one of the victims in Texas remained antivaccine even after her child’s death. He also highlighted a planned study by the Department of Health and Human Services on the debunked link between measles vaccination and autism.
“It gives you an idea how strong the antivaccine movement is,” Curran said. “Extremely, extremely strong. And we all worry that it’s going to be facilitated by some of the federal appointees.
“At least I do.”
Board member Dr. Kathryn Cheek, a Columbus pediatrician who has vaccinated her patients for 40 years, said both anecdotal and scientific evidence have shown it to be “a very safe vaccine.”
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a vaccine skeptic, posted a message on social media over the weekend in support of the measles vaccine.
“The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.”
Hours later he published another post showing him with the family of the child who died and two doctors, whom he called “extraordinary healers … who have treated and healed some 300 measles-stricken Mennonite children” by using a particular steroid and antibiotic.
“These are not evidence-based treatments for measles,” Adalja said on the call with Texas health officials.
Another complication in Texas is the Trump administration’s recent clawback of billions of dollars in public health funding that was expected to be spent over the coming two years. An official from Dallas County, Texas said on the call that the lost money funded outbreak workers and laboratory capacity.
Georgia has lost access to more than $300 million of similar funds. That included paying for contract tracing workers and its computer system for reporting disease cases. A department spokeswoman said they would continue to do the necessary work and the cuts would not affect core services.
New Measles Vaccine Guidance
Two doses of the MMR vaccine are 97% effective against getting measles. Public health officials are now suggesting that certain people in a community-wide measles outbreak area, or traveling to one, discuss with their doctor whether to get an additional dose or early dose of the MMR vaccine. That includes “undervaccinated” people (those who only got one shot of the two-dose regimen) and unvaccinated babies who normally would be made to wait until age 1. Others include:
- Preschool-aged children from 1 to 4 who received one prior dose may consider getting their second dose.
- Infants aged 6 to 11 months may receive an early dose of MMR.
Sources: Georgia Department of Public Health; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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