Measles quickly spreading in Kansas counties with alarmingly low vaccination

An eruption of measles is spreading quickly in Kansas, with cases doubling in a week and spreading to three new counties, some with vaccination coverage among kindergartners at pitiful levels as low as 41 percent. Coverage of 95 percent or greater is thought to protect communities from onward spread of the extremely contagious virus. In an update Wednesday, March 26, Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) reported 23 measles cases across six counties—up from 10 cases across three counties on March 21. The 23 people ill with the dangerous virus are mostly children, including six who are 0 to 4 years old, nine who are 5 to 10, three who are 11 to 13, three who are 14 to 17, and two adults between the ages of 25 and 44. Fortunately, none of the cases have been hospitalized so far, and there have been no deaths. Twenty of the 23 cases were unvaccinated. One case was "not age appropriately vaccinated," one was "age appropriately vaccinated," and the remaining case's vaccination status is pending. Children should get two doses of the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, the first between the ages of 12 and 15 months and the second between the ages of 4 and 6, prior to starting kindergarten. Two doses are 97 percent effective against measles, offering lifelong protection. The cases now span the counties of Grant, Gray, Haskell, Kiowa, Morton, and Stevens, all in the southwest corner of the state. Many of the counties have areas with extremely low vaccination rates. Haskell, which has reported 4 of the 23 cases, has two school districts, both with low vaccination coverage: Satanta with only 85 percent of kindergartners being up to date on their MMR vaccines in the 2023–2024 school year, and Sublette with just 41 percent. Likewise, Gray County includes school districts Cimarron-Ensign with 63 percent and Ingalls with 60 percent. Two other districts in the county had unreported vaccination rates.