Ohio Measles Outbreak Infects More Than 80 Children, Sending Dozens to the Hospital Amid Vaccine Hesitancy

A measles outbreak in Ohio was linked to the infection of more than 80 children amid vaccine hesitancy as the virus' spread is focused around the city of Columbus.

So far, out of the 81 confirmed infections, 29 children were sent to the hospital, officials reported last week. Health authorities have not yet reported any deaths in relation to the recent outbreak which began in November and started growing earlier this month to become a major public health issue.

Ohio's Measles Outbreak

The measles outbreak seems to be spreading primarily among unvaccinated residents as 76 of the confirmed infections in Columbus were among people who have not yet received their shots. Physicians and local health officials issued warnings that misinformation regarding the outbreak and vaccine hesitancy among the public that intensified during the pandemic were factors that worsened the outbreak.

In a statement this month, Columbus Health Commissioner Mysheika Roberts said that the measles outbreak began when a small number of people returned from an area where the virus was endemic and came to the city, causing the infection to spread easily among unvaccinated residents, as per The Hill.

Roberts added that the reason why so many young children in the area were affected by the measles outbreak was that the majority of the population was still unvaccinated. It was found that two-thirds of the cases that have been confirmed so far were among children aged one to five years old.

In a statement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended the first dose of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine for children aged 14 months to 15 months and a second dose when they are at the ages of four to six years.

According to the Washington Post, a Kaiser senior vice president, Jen Kates, said that public sentiments against vaccine mandates have grown significantly since the coronavirus pandemic. A poll in 2019 by the Pew Research Center found that less than 25% of parents and 16% of all adults opposed school vaccination requirements.

Growing Vaccine Hesitancy

The majority of those who oppose vaccination are among people who identify as or lean Republican, the Kaiser survey found. The poll also showed that 44% of the participants said that parents should be able to opt-out of those childhood vaccines, a number which is more than twice the 20% who felt the same way in 2019.

A father of three in the Detroit suburbs, Adam Moore, said that none of his children, who were aged nine, 12, and 17, and enrolled in private school, were given their routine childhood immunizations or vaccines for the coronavirus or the flu. He said that he values personal liberty and says that the American government has no right to tell people what to do with their bodies.

Health experts are recommending the vaccine against measles because one dose was found to be roughly 93% effective at preventing the infection if the patient comes into contact with someone who has it. On the other hand, two doses of the vaccine were found to be 97% effective, CNN reported.