Measles was almost wiped out due to the brilliant development of the measles vaccine, developed in America, which has saved millions of lives over the years it has been used.
But now misinformation and declining health care standards has resulted in the gradual spread of the potentally fatal disease.
Why?
Crumbling health systems and misinformation fuelling global surge in measles, scientists warn
Experts say that a ‘generational decline in living standards’ could be behind waning rates of vaccination
report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) warning that the rise in measles cases is a consequence of declining vaccine rates – and that other diseases prevented by vaccination could be next.
“It’s a global story,” Dr Kasstan-Dabush told The Independent. “The issue of declining vaccination coverage can’t really be separated from the bigger picture of declining standards of child and adult health.
Measles vaccination rates remain high in the U.S. In 2017, the CDC reported that 94 percent of children entering kindergarten had received two doses of MMR vaccine.83 For the 2018-2019 school year, 94.7 percent of children in kindergarten had received the two recommended doses of MMR vaccine.84
Further, in 2020, 92.4 percent of adolescents 13 to 17 years were reported to have received the two recommended MMR vaccine doses.85
In June 2022, the FDA approved PRIORIX, a live attenuated measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.86PRIORIX was initially licensed in Germany in 1997 and according to the CDC, the vaccine has been in use globally in nearly 100 countries.87On June 23, 2022, the CDC’s ACIP voted to approve use of PRIORIX as an option for the MMR vaccine according to the current MMR recommendations and off-label uses.88
IMPORTANT NOTE: NVIC encourages you to become fully informed about Measles and the Measles vaccine by reading all sections in the Table of Contents , which contain many links and resources such as the manufacturer product information inserts, and to speak with one or more trusted health care professionals before making a vaccination decision for yourself or your child. This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice.
In American history of the first to the most recent vaccines:
The first two measles vaccines were initially licensed for use in the United States in 1963 and both contain the Edmonston B measles strain isolated by John Enders in 1954. Rubeovax, a live attenuated vaccine, was manufactured by Merck while Pfizer-Vax Measles-K, an inactivated (killed) virus vaccine, was manufactured by Pfizer.1
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IMPORTANT NOTE: NVIC encourages you to become fully informed about Measles and the Measles vaccine by reading all sections in the Table of Contents , which contain many links and resources such as the manufacturer product information inserts, and to speak with one or more trusted health care professionals before making a vaccination decision for yourself or your child. This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice.
Measles vaccine has saved hundreds of thousands of lives
Dec 1, 2025
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has underscored the remarkable progress made in the fight against measles over the past 24 years.
Since 2000, global measles cases have fallen by 71%, dropping from an estimated 38-million to 11-million in 2024 – with improvements driven by vaccination coverage.
Deaths have declined even more dramatically, by 88%, from 777 000 in 2000 to 95 000 in 2024 – the lowest annual estimate in decades.
In total, measles vaccination has prevented nearly 58,7-million deaths worldwide in this period, making it one of the most successful public health interventions in history.
Beyond its public health impact, measles vaccination also delivers tremendous economic returns – yielding $58 for every dollar invested.
reported on Tuesday come from Way of Truth Church in Inman, with eight of those cases coming from household exposures to measles. One new case of measles came from “exposure in a health care setting,” according to the South Carolina Department of Public Health, though more details about that case were not released. The agency encourages those who’ve been potentially exposed to measles to notify their health care provider before coming in so that proper arrangements can be made to protect others.
Trump Administration influence on take up vaccinations:
As part of that effort, the MMR vaccine is required for children to attend public school throughout the country, but many states offer parents the choice to exempt their child for religious or personal reasons. In a media briefing yesterday, South Carolina’s state epidemiologist Linda Bell said that vaccination levels there were simply “lower than hoped for.”
The state has seen vaccination rates of its schools’ students decline from almost 96 percent in 2020 to 93.5 percent in 2025—for context, robust herd immunity from measles requires about 95 percent of the population to be vaccinated, according to the World Health Organization.
Both Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and President Donald Trump have criticized the shot, suggesting it should be broken up into separate jabs and linking it, without evidence, to autism. Numerous studies have debunked this link.
Sometimes going to a new school or learning new things can be scary. Image by Ernesto Eslava via Pixabay.
Have you ever been scared of something you were told was good for you? Think of the first time you entered a new school…maybe that scared you. You may have been nervous to meet new friends, or to sit in a classroom taught by a teacher you didn’t know. That teacher may be mean, or they might be nice. You don’t know. It’s normal to be worried about new things; however, learning about things that are new to us can help us understand them better.
Why are some people against vaccines?
The fear of vaccines actually started early in history. Some people feared the vaccines Edward Jenner was using to protect them against smallpox. This fear arose because people misunderstood how biology worked. In the 18th century, people didn’t even know that germs caused disease.When cowpox started to be used to prevent smallpox, people were afraid. Click for more detail.
The smallpox vaccine was first associated with a cow virus, cowpox. People were afraid that if they got the vaccine they would grow cow body parts, or they might even turn into a cow! That might sound strange to us today, but for them the vaccine was scary because it was new and people didn’t know how it worked. Additionally, in reality, smallpox vaccines have been made with cowpox, horsepox, and other poxviruses over time. The history is unclear as to what source was being used for virus when, but many poxviruses were able to provide immunity to smallpox.
Fear of vaccines today
Today most people realize a human won’t just start growing cow (or horse or other animal) parts, but fears about vaccines persist. Some of these fears come from misconceptions about vaccines and their safety. One misconception is that the when babies are born, their immune system cannot handle vaccinations. Though infant immune systems are still developing, they are also very strong. Babies come into contact with many germs in the environment that may make them sick. If a baby were given all 14 scheduled vaccines at once, it would only use up 0.1% of a baby’s immune capacity.
December 11, 20255:09 PM GMTUpdated December 11, 2025
Summary
US set to withdraw from WHO next month
WHO chief says it has learned COVID lessons
US was biggest donor to global health agency
GENEVA, Dec 11 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization chief said on Thursday that he was still hoping the U.S. administration would reconsider its decision to withdraw from the organisation next month, saying that its exit would be a loss for the world.
In one of his first acts as U.S. president, Donald Trump signed the order to withdraw, saying the global health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and was too close to China. It will take effect on Jan. 22, 2026.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
borderslynn 