A Pediatrician’s Message: Love Your Neighbor by Supporting Measles Vaccines

In 1991, when I was a fourth-year medical student in Philadelphia, I saw my first measles case.  During a pediatric infectious disease rotation, my team cared for an 18-month-old who had measles, pneumonia and encephalitis. Several days later, he died. His death was one of nine in Philadelphia that year from measles. There are certain encounters in medicine that one never forgets, and this was one of them. 

The measles epidemic in 1991 began at a private school in which many of the students were not vaccinated, and the epidemic gained momentum in the school and beyond. The medical community banded together and did home visits to determine those affected and increased intensity of vaccinations against the measles to combat the spread. It worked!

No one died from measles in Pennsylvania for 35 years. But now, in my 32nd year of practice as a pediatrician, Pennsylvania is once again at the epicenter of a measles epidemic.

In 2026 so far, 577 measles cases have been documented in Pennsylvania, including 115 new cases in the last week, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The state’s governor, Josh Shapiro, announced two measles-associated deaths on August 25th.

Measles is a viral illness that is not combated with healthy eating or having a strong immune system. There are no medications to treat this virus. Antiviral medications are not effective to manage the illness. The only way to ensure protection is through vaccination. The MMR vaccine is a combination vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella. U.S. manufacturers have not provided a measles vaccination that can be administered separately. Medical exemptions for the MMR are needed only in rare cases. For example, the vaccine should not be given to someone who has had a transplant of a solid organ, such as a liver or kidney. Children who have been prescribed a new class of drugs called biologics, which are used to treat severe asthma or eczema, should not receive the vaccine. These people who are not able to receive the vaccine can still be protected against measles if the people around them get the MMR, creating a "cocoon."  The medical community refers to this kind of protection as "herd immunity." Epidemiologists estimate that 95% of the population needs to be vaccinated to create the environment of herd immunity.

MMR vaccination rates in Lancaster County fall far short of providing herd immunity, and over the last 10 years, I've seen the rates substantially decline. One can now look up the school immunization rates on the Pennsylvania government website to see the reported vaccination rates in individual schools. The low percentage in many of the schools in Lancaster County is alarming.

I have been trying to figure out the reasons for the decline. I believe it is multi-factorial. But I do believe one of the major factors is social media. Social media allows us to reconnect with long-lost friends, but it also allows for the distribution of misinformation without accountability for the individuals spreading the misinformation.  As an older practitioner who only occasionally reads content on social media, I am not exposed to much of the confusion bombarding parents and guardians on these platforms. It is difficult to sift through the cacophony of noise on social media, particularly the medical information regarding vaccines. Footnotes and reliable sources that are required for research papers are not a requirement for stating “facts” on the platforms.

The MMR vaccine was developed in 1963, the year before I was born. It has been safely administered for over 60 years. It has 97 percent efficacy for a person who is vaccinated with two vaccines set apart by a certain interval.

As a pediatrician and a person who has spent my entire career trying to protect children and adolescents, I am disappointed that I am NOT able to eliminate the confusion and misinformation that parents and guardians are facing regarding the MMR vaccination. It takes a lot of mental energy to address the misinformation. We in the medical community are continually striving to communicate with parents and guardians in a way that will calm their fears and worries about vaccines.

At the end of the day, we all want the same outcome to protect children and adolescents from serious illnesses that can cause death and harm.

Supporting vaccination is a way to “love your neighbor as yourself.” To me, this translates to protecting those who are not medically able to receive the vaccine. The people of Lancaster have shown that they love their neighbors in previous crises. Let’s again work together to protect our community and stop the measles epidemic through vaccination.