AIn the middle of the measles outbreak that started in Texas and now it is believed that he has It spread to four other statesMany people may ask: Do I need to get a measles vaccine enhancement?
Measles are a very air -air disease that can lead to severe complications, including death. The vaccine can also be prevented through the measles vaccine, mumps and measles (MMR), which is usually given in childhood in two doses. More than two decades ago, it was measles Announce the elimination of it From the United States, thanks to a large part to a successful vaccination program. But in recent years, vaccination rates have decreased and measles have increased. In 2024, there were 285 measles cases reported in the country, according to L. US centers to combat and prevent diseases (CDC). Four months after 2025, the agency received reports of 800 confirmed measles. Among them, 96 % was in people who were not inconsistent or had an unknown vaccination.
So far in 2025, two children In Texas, he died due to measles complications. Both were not immunized. A third person, an adult, not fortified in New Mexico, A positive test for the group After death, although the official cause of death is still under investigation, according to CDC. Before this year, it was the last confirmed measles death in the United States in 2015, according to CDC.
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Public health experts say that the best way to protect yourself from measles is to get vaccination. MMR vaccine is safe and effective. According to the Center for Disease Control, two effects of 97 % against measles. Dr. Ravi Jafiri, professor of pediatrics at the Fennberg College at the University of Chicago, and head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Ann and Robert Laurie for Chicago in Chicago, says people who do not get a childhood vaccine in childhood can still be later in life.
The Disease Control Center has said that most of the people who get a mmr vaccine will be Lifetime ReserveThere No official recommendations For a third dose of the vaccine while the measles spread.
“The vast majority of people who have two doses are protected [and] “Do not come down with measles. We have decades of time of experience that was two safe and effective doses, and when we maintained two doses at a very high level through our residents, we saw a few, if any, outstupe up,” says Jhaveri.
However, this does not mean that the supporter is never necessary for other types of diseases. According to Jhaveri, there are two important factors that help make this decision: the genetic difference of the virus and the nature of your immunity. For example, the viruses that cause influenza and Covid-19 have a lot of genetic difference, which is why public health experts recommend obtaining a new vaccine against these viruses every year. People also get a reinforced footage because the levels of antibodies against bacteria fade over time, and if someone is a great exposure-just as he makes a rusty nail-they make a mistake on the vaccination side after that, Jhaveri says. But measles, he says, are more genetic stable, and both doses of the MMR vaccine “allow you to have high levels of antibodies that are high enough to protect you as well as allow your cells to respond if you are exposed, to prevent you from injury.”
Jhaveri says that with age, they usually do not work their immune system either, so “in theory, there may be some decrease in measles immunity.” Only about three out of every 100 people who were fully vaccinated against measles will get the disease if they are exposed to the virus, according to what he said CDC. But the person who has been vaccinated and who gets measles usually has more moderate and less likely symptoms to spread the disease to others, compared to a non -fortified person. According to National Infectious CorporationAbout 90 % of non -immune people who are exposed to the virus will get measles.
There is a group of people who may need to think about vaccination again: according to CDCThose who were vaccinated before 1968 should be strengthened with an older version of the vaccine, a broken version, at at least one dose of the vaccine that we use now, which is the talented measles vaccine. This is because the broken vaccine, which was available from 1963 to 1967, was not as effective as the version we are now using.
Jhaveri notes that the mostly continuous spread among people who are not immunized, not those who have been vaccinated, so obtaining a third dose will be unnecessary.
“The reason we see an outbreak now is that we have large pockets through our inhabitants that do not get these two doses,” says Jhaveri. “So persuading people who do the right thing to do this is not the place where the effort should really go; it is to persuade these people who do not see the benefit of the two doses … they must be vaccinated.”