Measles cases highlight Arizona’s declining vaccination rates

September 7, 2022

By: Jerod MacDonald- Evoy

Read the full story on AZ Mirror

The Maricopa County Department of Public Health recently announced three measles cases in the county as the state has continued to see year-over-year drops in how many children are being vaccinated against the highly contagious viral infection. 

Measles has no specific treatment once a person becomes infected, and it is estimated that measles vaccinations resulted in a worldwide 73% reduction in deaths between 2000 to 2018, according to the World Health Organization. 

The vaccine is administered to children. In Arizona, the vaccination rates among children have been dropping every year. In some parts of the state, the number of schools with herd immunity has reached single digits. 

“We continued to lose about one half of one percent every year after (2014), and that’s been the trend,” said Will Humble, a former director of the Arizona Department of Health Services who now serves as executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association. 

Community immunity is what schools or child care facilities need to be protected from a measles outbreak. Approximately 95% of the children need to be vaccinated for community immunity to prevent a “cascade of cases,” Humble said.