Skepticism around the safety of vaccines has led to falling measles vaccine rates among children, but data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows adverse reactions have been reported far less for the measles vaccine than for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Why It Matters
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) said that 159 cases of measles had been recorded in the state since January. At least one child has died from the disease.
Measles was considered eradicated in the U.S. in 2000, nearly 40 years after the first measles vaccine was identified in 1963, but a growing anti-vaccine movement is raising concerns about a resurgence of the virus.
The CDC said that 1 in 5 unvaccinated people in the U.S. will be hospitalized if they get measles. One in 20 children with the disease will get pneumonia, which is the leading cause of death from measles in young children. As many as 3 out of 1,000 children die after being infected with measles.
What to Know
One of the driving forces behind the current measles outbreak is falling vaccination rates, with parents failing to ensure their children have the two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, as recommended by the CDC.
Since the MMR vaccine was released in 1971, there have been more than 103,000 adverse reaction reports submitted to the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
“Anyone, including healthcare providers, vaccine manufacturers, and the public, can submit reports to the system,” the site said. “While very important in monitoring vaccine safety, VAERS reports alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness.”
When it comes to the MMR vaccine, the most common adverse reactions reported on VAERS were for minor symptoms such as pain in the joints, chills, redness and swelling of the skin, and headache. Reports citing death as a reaction occurred in 95 cases, and the need for emergency care in two cases.
Since the COVID-19 vaccine was released in the U.S. in 2020, more than 1 million reports have been submitted to VAERS, with more than 15,000 reports claiming death as a result of the vaccine.
In the same time period, less than 7,000 reports of adverse effects were made for MMR, with two reports claiming death.
How MMR reactions compare to other common vaccines
IPV, the only polio vaccine offered in the U.S. since 2000, has more than 38,000 reports on VAERS. In that same time period, MMR has received 62,000 reports. Varicella, the vaccine for chickenpox, has received 82,000 reports since being released in the U.S. in 1995. MMR received nearly 71,000 reports in the same timeframe.
Adverse effects have been recorded for various forms of DTaP, the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough, more than 94,000 times since the vaccine was made available in 1948.
Vaccine skepticism has been fueled by claims made by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Kennedy has claimed that good nutrition is an immune system’s best defense against diseases and viruses.
Kennedy has said the ongoing measles outbreak is “not unusual.” However, he also recently wrote an op-ed for Fox News Digital, in which he claimed the vaccine protects children against measles.
What People Are Saying
Dr. Alice Huang, a virologist and senior faculty associate in biology and biological engineering at the California Institute of Technology, told Newsweek: “The [measles] vaccine is extraordinarily safe. You’re comparing one in a million doses that will cause a problem, whereas the disease is 1 in a 1,000 would die of it. It’s just really not anything to worry about.”
Huang added that most allergies people used to have to vaccine ingredients have been removed from the vaccines.
She said: “It’s completely safe. It’s so sad to see what’s going on in Texas at this time.”
Kennedy wrote in an opinion piece published on Sunday in Fox News Digital: “The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons.”
What Happens Next
The CDC maintains that the best prevention against measles is receiving the MMR vaccine, especially if someone is planning to travel. Most cases in the ongoing outbreak have been reported in Texas, but cases have also been diagnosed in California, Alaska, Kentucky, Georgia, New Mexico, and New Jersey.
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