![[OC] Vaccines reduced measles cases across US states](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/mxon9os0cq1f1-1536x1153.png "[OC] Vaccines reduced measles cases across US states")
For more information, check out our recent article on how measles vaccines save millions of lives each year.
The data shown here was compiled from Project Tycho data and US CDC data, a data sheet with each source used for each data point is available here.
Tools: Initial plotting in R Studio, code here, followed by finishing in Figma.
(I'm a data scientist at Our World in Data)
Posted by spionaf
23 Comments
And yet there are still morons rejecting the vaccine and using “natural immunization”.
I think if parents choose to not vaccinate kids and their kids end up dieing to measles they deserve the death penalty for murdering their child.
If RFK Jr. Could read he’d be very mad right now.
What’s up with that wave of cases in the late 80s?
Off to figure out what happened in that little blip in the late 80s/early 90s.
For those wondering about the late 80s jump, looks like it was before the second vax dose was recommended and after budget cuts to vaccine programs: [https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/1989-1991-measles-epidemic-almost-stopped-basketball-tournament](https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/1989-1991-measles-epidemic-almost-stopped-basketball-tournament)
“The outbreak in the early 1990s hit poor black and Latino communities the hardest, in Central Brooklyn, upper Manhattan and the South Bronx.
The outbreak in New York City took off in the spring of 1990. And once the public health response got underway, parents got on board.
…
Public health historians partially attribute the outbreak to budget cuts during President Ronald Reagan’s administration that affected federal funds directed toward immunization and public health initiatives.”
From [NPR](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/13/722944146/how-public-health-outreach-ended-a-1990s-measles-outbreak-and-whats-different-no).
Love the colors used. As red green colorblind, I can see this very clearly.
Wait bro, you’ve got it all wrong, my favorite podcast personality talked to a doctor one time who said vaccines are bullshit
Oh wow. [Notices the log scale] WOW!
The US version of the Health Secretary should post this on his/her Twitter to make people understand and stop being reluctant.
For those of us born from ~’60-’87, you may want an update. Apparently, it has changed a bit, so a second shot won’t hurt.
Duh. The idiocy of the antivax crowd laid bare, what a stupid hill to die on.
This is indeed beautiful data.
I want to see the one for covid.
This is indeed very conniving data. The hard part seems to be to convincing people that measles is a terrible disease in the first place.
Vaccines and antibiotics are basically the pinnacle of human innovation. I will say, I wish we had some more time to test the COVID vaccine before releasing it but I think we saved a lot of people’s grandparents either way. Vaccines are great.
So Texas will be uniquely shaded when refreshed in 2028. Good to know.
Truly a beautiful presentation of data! Thanks, great post.
God I love data. You can argue with it but it’s gonna tell you that you’re stupid. (Although I also understand this sometimes we misunderstand what the data is trying to tell us.)
YoU sHoUlD pUt ThIs AgAiNsT tHe RiSe Of AuTiSm FoR cOnTeXt 🙈🙉
Please don’t show this to RFK, Jr.’s brain worm
Any squares after the late 1990s that are not yellow can be blamed entirely on Mr Andrew Wakefield.
I use the title “Mr” deliberately. I’m also very careful with my language when I call him a cheat, a liar, and a fraud.