Measles death is a red flag for NY

An unvaccinated, school-age child in Texas has died of the measles — the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade.

It could have been avoided. The ballooning measles outbreak in Texas now includes 124 cases, mostly unvaccinated children and teens. Cases are concentrated in the South Plains region, home to a Mennonite community where vaccination rates among kindergartners hover around 82%. And there are measles cases in New Mexico, too.

New York State Health Department officials report two measles cases in New York City. But the state is at risk for a larger outbreak. Only six years ago, hundreds of people, especially in New York City and Rockland County, contracted measles, a highly contagious respiratory illness accompanied by a terrible rash. Since then, New York banned vaccine exemptions for children attending school except for medical reasons.

Despite that, the state reports dangerously low vaccination rates — rates not too different from the Texas communities experiencing the outbreak. Those levels don’t come close to providing herd immunity, which is reached at the 95% level. Herd immunity stops widespread circulation of contagious diseases, protecting those who are immunocompromised or too young to receive the measles-mumps-rubella shot known as MMR.

Statewide, just 81.2% of children ages 24 to 35 months received one MMR dose before their second birthday. On Long Island, the rate isn’t much better — 82% in Nassau County and 82.6% in Suffolk. Across Long Island, there are distressing pockets with far lower rates — under 60% in ZIP codes that encompass Sag Harbor, Great Neck, and Sea Cliff/Glen Cove.

But Long Island has one tool Texas lacks: the ban on religious exemptions. Texas has a “conscientious exemption” which allowed 18% of Gaines County schoolchildren to skip their shots. New York’s 2019 ban should be helping to protect Long Island’s children. But the lack of exemptions combined with low vaccination rates for 2-year-olds creates a disturbing disconnect. It’s unclear whether children are being vaccinated when they’re older, submitting false documentation to schools, or getting exemptions they shouldn’t get.

The situation in Texas shows how harmful recent anti-vax pushback can be. And it might become more dangerous because the movement has a cheerleader in Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On Wednesday, Kennedy, an opponent of vaccines and vaccine requirements, dismissed concerns regarding the measles outbreak, saying: “It’s not unusual. You have measles outbreaks every year.”

But it should be unusual, because measles is so easily preventable. If Kennedy opens the door to more exemptions or greater “choice,” outbreaks — and deaths — could become more common. State Health Department officials need to bolster education and vaccination efforts, especially in areas with lower rates. They have to enforce strict exemption guidelines and prevent falsification of vaccine records.

No child should die of the measles. Our youngest and most vulnerable children are depending on other parents to do the right thing.