The Price of Forgetting What Vaccines Prevent

Anytime a child dies, it is a tragedy requiring introspection, but even more so when those deaths were entirely preventable. This week, the Pennsylvania Health Department reported 2 “measles-associated” deaths in unvaccinated individuals. Later, it was reported that at least 1 of the deceased was a child, an unvaccinated infant. The infant died of a ruptured spleen, but whether it was enlarged and susceptible to rupture due to infection is hard to determine post rupture.

Measles is most severe in those under the age of 5, and infants between the ages of 6 months and 1 year are at high risk. This is the susceptibility window when the protection from maternal antibodies has waned and before the first measles shot can be safely given. If given at too young an age, the immunity produced with revaccination may not be durable. Even though infants cannot be vaccinated, communities can be, producing protective herd immunity, one of the pillars of public health.

And if you disagree with the above, remember the US, until recently, had effectively eliminated measles, and if not for anti-vaxxers, this discussion and article would be irrelevant and unnecessary.

So far this year John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reports 2,800 measles cases in the US, already eclipsing the 2,286 cases reported last year. The US is on the verge of losing its measles elimination status.

Misinformation about measles vaccinations appears to be driving the skyrocketing cases. When commenting about the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine, President Trump asserted, “Together, there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal,” an assertion CMS Director Mehmet Oz walked back on CBS’s Face the Nation by stating, “The MMR vaccine is not a lethal vaccine.”

During the signing of a Presidential Executive Order regarding vaccines, there were a plethora of false assertions, including the claim that children are required to receive 72 jabs in their lifetime. No State requires this many injections, and asserting that the MMR vaccine should be split into individual doses only increases the number of required jabs. Nor are children injected with massive volumes or “vats” of fluids. One of the most damaging assertions is that vaccines may cause autism. This is predicated on a very small and retracted study published in The Lancet, which was called fraudulent in a commentary by a BMJ Editor. There have also been at least 35 studies that failed to find a link between vaccines and autism.

Social media is also filled with anti-vaxxer comments, calling the reported measles deaths “propaganda”, and trying to minimize the occurrence with often insensitive postings and misinformation.

These are actual quotes, unedited, from a social media post about the recent measles deaths.

• “Ok. Good for them. They weren’t forced, and this is ALL that matters”
• “Oh well, at least people didn't have to vaccinate their kids before burying them.”
• “If thats what they died from”
• “Two people dies anyway everywhere”
• “People do die from diseases. Its part of life.”
  

Measles deaths are entirely preventable. Two doses of the measles vaccine are 97% effective, and with adequate community vaccination, herd immunity prevents infections in the first place.

Without adequate community and maternal vaccinations, our youngest children are in danger, not only from death but also from long-term sequela. Even years later, a severe condition called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis can take the life of a child. This condition is rare, but its incidence is significantly higher in children under 5 years of age.

Measles infections do not build immunity. In fact, they tear it down. Infections do produce strong immunity to the measles virus, but also cause immune amnesia or increased vulnerability to other pathogens.

We are paying the price of the destruction of public health and the CDC. The detrimental impact goes far beyond the measles vaccine. Foreign adversaries are helping to drive the narrative, along with the selective nonpublication of studies by our own government that demonstrate vaccine safety.

The benefits of vaccinations extend beyond the prevention of infections. Just this week, research has found that the new shingles vaccine lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke by 9% compared to the previous version. Prior research has found that the vaccine lowers the risk of dementia.

My ICT article on cyclospora all but declared the outbreak over, but the cases continued to climb, now over 17,000 cases, and at least 6 other outbreaks with unknown sources are being investigated. I then learned it took almost a month to send an inspection team to the linked source of the original outbreak, Taylor Farms, and that the facility had not been previously inspected since 2019.

People are being infected with leprosy and dengue fever in Florida. Cases are on the rise. Visiting Florida is almost like visiting a third-world country. Screwworm infections of livestock in Texas and New Mexico threaten the US beef supply, which is especially tenuous due to import tariffs.

Many of these outbreaks require a robust and multifaceted response from our public health system. But this has been largely muted by misinformation, resulting in underfunding, inadequate staffing, and a lack of widespread public support.

Vaccinations are especially problematic. As Katherine Fuller wrote in an Aug. 25, 2026, social media post:“ The ‘problem’ with vaccines? They’re so effective at preventing deaths that they create generations of people who question whether disease was a problem in the first place because they have never experienced the horrors of a world without vaccines.”

And the solutions do not change. To quote Neil deGrasse Tyson: "The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. It is not up for debate.” Infection preventionists must continue to educate the public about vaccinations and the dangers of measles. Even if we cannot readily achieve system-wide change, every child vaccinated against measles will have a markedly lower risk of death and disability.