Spread the word, not the virus: Get measles vax

Don’t mess with measles.

That should be a PSA to all parents in California and America: MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) is not a vaccine to skip.

Health officials in Sacramento recently issued a warning after a child with infectious measles joined an educational enrichment program –– exposing up to 130 other children to the disease. 

The case, part of a cluster of six children with measles in the Sacramento and Placer region, follows similar outbreaks this year in Shasta and Los Angeles counties. 

But wait, wasn’t measles eliminated in the US back in 2000, per the CDC?

The measles are spreading across California with health officials giving dire warnings about the spread. REUTERS

Effectively it was. But the scourge was never eradicated abroad, and imported cases, along with declining vaccination rates since the COVID pandemic, have spread concern anew.

The answer, in this case and with this disease, is vaccination.

The MMR vaccine is safe, established and effective. 

Doctors have studied the measles and MMR jabs since their advent in the 1960s and ’70s, respectively. Research has demonstrated, over time, that the shots are safe.

They also work: A 95% vaccination rate for MMR is why the US effectively reached herd immunity in 2000, leaving measles stymied. 

Recent CDC data show that U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates dipped to 92.5% in 2024-25 –– with many states slipping below 90%.

Hence the current outbreaks … and concern for worse.

In a March 6 news release, California Public Health Department Director Erica Pan said, “Measles, one of the most contagious infections, can lead to severe life-long consequences including permanent brain damage and can also be fatal, especially for children.”

It’s not worth gambling with those kinds of consequences, for your own kids or others’.

But vaccine reluctance is a thing, since the federal government failed to level with Americans about the experimental COVID vaccines. 

We were told the COVID jabs were safe and effective, but many believe they were neither.

That’s why we all should distinguish between established vaccines with successful records, and unproven shots that carry more risk.

And even the nation’s leading vaccine skeptic supports inoculation against measles. As HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on X last year, “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.” 

The measles, easily transmitted through the air and via surfaces, is a clear and growing public health threat.

So please: Spread the word, not the virus, and get the kids vaxxed.