A child receives an MMR vaccine used to protect against measles. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Madelyn Keech

As Texas’ worst measles outbreak in 30 years continues, health officials recorded both a jump in both total cases and hospitalizations.

The Texas Department of State Health Services on Friday reported a total of 481 measles cases, up 59 from Tuesday, the date on which the agency released its prior tally. To date, 56 of those infected have been placed under hospital care, and one child who contracted the disease died in late February.

The outbreak has spread to no new counties since Tuesday, officials said, and the majority of cases remain centered in Gains County, located on the New Mexico border roughly 90 miles southwest from Lubbock.

New Mexico reported a total of 54 measles cases on Friday, while Oklahoma reported 10 cases as of Tuesday, however.

The MRR vaccine is 97% effective at preventing measles infections, and federal officials declared the disease eliminated in 2000. So far, all but 10 of the recent Texas cases have been among people who haven’t been vaccinated or had uncertain vaccination status.

The current outbreak appears to have originated in a religious community with a low vaccination rate, and it’s spread amid rising vaccine skepticism propagated by right-wing politicians and social media.

To date, Texas’ top elected official, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, has said little about the measles outbreak and has issued no public call urging people to get vaccinated.

At the same time, Trump administration Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, has emphasized in public statements that the decision to vaccinate is a “personal one” in which people should be informed of “potential risks.”

Further, a recent ProPublica investigation found that leaders in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which operates under Kennedy’s aegis, ordered staff to suppress an expert assessment indicating the risk of catching measles during an outbreak is higher in places where vaccination rates lag.

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This article appears in Apr 2-15, 2025.

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