MMR vaccine

How measles, whooping cough and worse could roar back on RFK Jr.'s watch

6:00am December 06, 2024

With anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of the nation's biggest health agency, it wouldn't take much tampering to enable vaccine-preventable diseases to make a comeback.

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is part of the CDC's recommended childhood immunization schedule. ERIC RISBERG/AP

Health & Safety

North Carolina reports first case of measles since 2018

2:24pm September 10, 2024

by Santiago Ochoa

Nationwide cases of measles have been on the rise in recent years. In North Carolina, the first case of the disease since 2018 was reported on Monday, Sept. 8, 2024.

It's no surprise there's a global measles outbreak. But the numbers are 'staggering'

11:35am February 08, 2024

by Fran Kritz

That's the adjective used by the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Global Immunization Division. Can the world bring this outbreak under control?

A look at the history of vaccines in schools.

COMIC: If history is a guide, schools will start requiring COVID vaccines

11:27am November 05, 2021

The first vaccine required for school was for smallpox, over 200 years ago. And for decades, all states have required that kids be vaccinated against contagious diseases like polio to attend school.

Signs advertising free measles vaccines and providing information about measles are displayed at the Rockland County Health Department in Pomona, N.Y. The county in New York City's northern suburbs has had more than 200 measles cases since last fall.

Health & Safety

How Public Health Outreach Ended A 1990s Measles Outbreak And What's Different Now

7:21pm May 13, 2019

by Gwynne Hogan

This year's measles outbreak is the largest in recent memory. But from 1989 to 1991, more than 55,000 people got measles. Federal funding and parents embracing vaccines halted the outbreak.

Measles used to be a common childhood disease, but after an effective vaccine was developed, the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. This year's outbreaks, however, put that status in jeopardy.

Health & Safety

Is Measles Here To Stay?

5:10pm April 30, 2019

by Jonathan Lambert

Vaccination eliminated measles from the U.S. nearly 20 years ago. But with this year's record-setting outbreak, are we close to measles making a sustained comeback?