Measles Outbreak Risk Is Rising as Vaccination Rates Drop, CDC Says
Measles vaccination rates fell to the lowest level in more than a decade during the COVID-19 pandemic, complicating efforts to prevent outbreaks, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Globally, a record high of nearly 40 million children missed a measles vaccine dose last year, including 25 million kids who didn’t get the first of two recommended doses, and an additional 14.7 million who missed their second dose, according to the report, which was issued jointly with the World Health Organization (WHO) November 23.“The record number of children under-immunized and susceptible to measles shows the profound damage immunization systems have sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the CDC's director, Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, in the report.At least 95 percent of the population needs…