Editorial: Measles cases multiplying, showing the importance for people to get vaccinated

This undated image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Feb. 4, 2015, shows an electron microscope image of a measles virus particle, center. (Cynthia Goldsmith/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP)

The measles outbreak that began with one sick child near Lubbock in late January has spread to almost 500 cases across four states. Two people have died and some 50 people have been hospitalized.

A second, apparently unrelated, outbreak has sickened at least 10 people in Ohio.

Most if not all those affected weren’t vaccinated.

It’s becoming more evident each day that vaccination works, and without it this outbreak likely would have become an even greater epidemic — and it probably will continue to spread without greater public participation.

This outbreak should remind people of just how important it is to develop immunity to sometimes horrible and even deadly diseases with a simple dose or two of vaccines. It should inspire more people to protect themselves and their children by getting them.

Resistance to vaccination has grown in recent years, to the point that our current head of federal health policy, Robert Kennedy Jr., opposes them. That resistance usually is based on largely debunked reports that vaccines are government mind-control devices or that they cause medical problems such as autism. To be sure, a small number of people have adverse reactions to some vaccines — just like some people have reactions to peanut butter. Their overall safety and effectiveness, however, is clear.

During the COVID-19 pandemic vaccination became a symbol of resistance to heavy-handed government policies. Since the pandemic vaccination rates for many illnesses have fallen and, unsurprisingly, cases of those illnesses are growing.

However, the effectiveness, and value, of vaccination shouldn’t have to be debated. We need only go back a few decades to see how common many diseases were — how many children contracted illnesses such as mumps and chickenpox as well as measles; how many babies were born with birth defects because their mothers were exposed to rubella while pregnant.

Hundreds of thousands of cases of these and other diseases were reported every year as recently as the 1970s, and most of them were virtually eradicated through the use of vaccines. With vaccination rates falling, they — and their threat to public health — are coming back.

A measles sign is seen at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas. (Julio Cortez/AP Photo)

That effectiveness could be why some people resist them, or have developed a cavalier attitude toward them, as if they aren’t important. Those people might not know, or remember, how miserable those diseases made people who were infected, or how difficult or costly treatment for them could be.

A related issue is the growing debate over policies most schools have requiring vaccination for enrollment. Anti-vaccine parents complain about the mandates, and schools increasingly are granting waivers to compliance — which arguably could defeat the purpose of those mandates in the first place.

Schools must prioritize overall public health, and can’t make their classrooms into breeding grounds for diseases, where one sick student could infect the whole class.

Diseases can be deadly, and vaccination has proven to be a life-saving tool to keeping people safe. The current measles outbreak should remind people of their value, and inspire more people to ensure that their families’ immunization is up to date.

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