Sarampión Update

Spartanburg County, where more than 95% of South Carolina’s recent measles cases have been reported, experienced an even greater drop. The fast-growing manufacturing hub has long had lower vaccination rates than most of the state, but has seen its population become especially vaccine hesitant since the pandemic, data shows.

Over the past four years, Spartanburg’s immunization rate has declined more than twice as fast as the state’s has, shrinking from 93.9% in 2021-2022 to 88.9% this school year. During the same period, the number of Spartanburg County children with religious exemptions from vaccine requirements has more than doubled to 5,490, or nearly 10% of all enrolled students.

Today, Spartanburg has the lowest childhood vaccination rate and the highest rate of vaccine exemptions of any county in the state. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that a measles outbreak in South Carolina would be centered there. Of the 928 South Carolinians infected with measles during the current outbreak whose vaccination status is known, 883, or 95%, were unvaccinated, according to S.C. Department of Health data. Another 19 were partially vaccinated (2%) and 26 were fully vaccinated (2.8%).

As South Carolina grapples with a measles outbreak that has infected nearly 1,000 people, groups with ties to the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, are pushing to eliminate immunization requirements that protect children.

Activists are targeting vaccine mandates in states trying to tamp down measles as communities across the country struggle to stop the worst spread of the illness since the early 1990s. The Guardian found anti-vaccine groups are encouraging their followers to organize opposition to vaccine mandates in more than 20 states, including at least six with current measles outbreaks.

Vaccination to prevent measles in Mexico City will continue intensively and herd immunity is expected to be achieved by the end of this month, said Nadine Gasman, the local Secretary of Health.

In a press conference, the official reported that during Shakira ‘s concert, three vaccination stations were set up where 1,916 people received their dose.

The head of the Health Secretariat reminded everyone that the goal for Mexico City is to vaccinate 2.04 million people against the disease in order to achieve herd immunity; once that goal is reached, the administration will continue the campaign to encourage people to go to the 150 vaccination centers to get vaccinated.

To date, health personnel have administered 1,614,915 doses; since the campaign reinforcement began on February 8, 693,829 doses have been administered, and 17,291 were administered on Sunday.