LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Lubbock Public Health is working not to cause fear, but to warn people about the reality of what can happen if they contract the measles and are not vaccinated. Director Katherine Wells says as the attention of the nation turns to the South Plains, the department is working to raise awareness and keep people safe.
In the last three weeks since Lubbock Public Health confirmed the first positive case of measles in Gaines County, that number has grown to 49 across West Texas.
“If there’s a case of measles, if there’s a roomful of 10 unvaccinated individuals, nine of them will contract measles,” Wells said.
According to Wells, we should not be talking about a measles outbreak in 2025.
“The MMR vaccine’s been around for 50 years and we had gotten down to zero cases of measles around 2000 in the United States. And I think people haven’t seen it in so long, they can get complacent and say, well, I don’t really need the vaccine. It doesn’t, it’s not around, so I don’t need to get it,” she said.
Friday broke a 21-year streak without the measles in Lubbock County, when the first case was confirmed in a Lubbock child.
In Gaines County, where the outbreak began, cases are now up to 42. Lara Anton, spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services, says the majority of cases are in the tight-knit, Mennonite community in the area, but have extended beyond it.
“It’s an unvaccinated population, regardless of who that group is. We have a pocket in that county of individuals that aren’t vaccinated. We have pockets in Lubbock. You know, there’s pockets in every county, in every community,” Wells said.
Wells says their efforts to trace exposures helped track the case in Lubbock county.
Texas Department of State Health Services reports Gaines County has one of the lowest MMR vaccination rates in the state. In Lubbock, Wells says that’s a much different story.
“So, I’m less worried about a large spread or a large outbreak in, you know, a school district. However, you could have, with these exposures at medical facilities, there is the possibility of a child coming into school that could expose unvaccinated children in that environment,” she said.
An article in the Global Public Health Journal reports out of every 10,000 people who contract measles, 2,000 go to the hospital, 500 children get pneumonia and 10 to 30 children die. The author compares that to the three out of 10,000 people who get the MMR vaccine and experience fever-related seizures, the .04 cases of abnormal blood-clotting and the .035 allergic reactions.
“The majority of people believe in vaccinations. I mean, I think that’s still something that’s not political…Most people believe that you should get your children vaccinated. But, it’s so easy to get misinformation on the internet, it’s so easy to blast that out,” Wells said.
Wells says babies in Lubbock County who have been exposed are now having to get extra shots and some extra protein to build antibodies in their immune system. She encourages anyone who is unvaccinated, or has unvaccinated children, to reconsider to help protect the most vulnerable.
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