Measles & Politics

Many of us who work in science and medicine are reluctant to get involved in the political aspects of our professions. When politicians, media personalities and influencers talk about science and medicine too often science and medicine are overshadowed by political agendas and misinformation. 

When attempting to correct misinformation, we often face accusations of being “political” or acting as tools of the pharmaceutical industry or “big medicine”. Additionally, there is the potential risk of alienating our patients and community members who rely on different information sources than we do. 

The COVID-19 pandemic taught many of us that there is a risk to simply trying to communicate basic facts and advocating for public health measures. For example, I was once accused of being “a shill for big pharma” when I simply was trying to explain the biology of mRNA vaccines in an online forum. My support for established public health measures during the height of the pandemic strained my relationships with certain community members. 

It is much easier to not speak out on political matters. Right now, there is a tremendous amount of misinformation being spread and I am guilty of not being as active as I should in correcting this misinformation.  

Speaking out when politicians, media personalities and influencers are transmitting incorrect information is not “being political” – this should be part of what we do as professionals. So, with much trepidation – I am going to dive into the murky, treacherous waters of politics. 

Health matters regardless of political affiliation. My intent is to provide information from a medical perspective in the social and political context of what is happening now. This may often conflict with what is being asserted by politicians, political pundits, social media influencers, or media personalities – perhaps some that you agree with. This is unavoidable. It is not my intent to take a lead part in partisan or tribal politics. Just for the record I am registered to vote as a “Nonpartisan” in the state of Nebraska (Disclosures, Disclaimers and Context).  

Measles has become a focal point in the intersection of medicine and politics. Measles is an extremely communicable disease that not only can be deadly but can have severe long lasting severe consequences. The good news is that we can prevent measles through a very safe and very effective vaccine. The bad news is that we have a political appointee in power who has repeatedly spoken out against the measles vaccine. The current United States Secretary of Health and Human Services recently in a TV interview stated multiple incorrect points about measles and the measles vaccine. 

For this article I am going to focus on correcting just three items of misinformation that were uttered during this recent interview – in future articles I will address some other pieces of misinformation. The primary references for this article will be the well-respected professional resource UpToDate, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and Paul Offit, MD; a pediatrician and professor of vaccinology. 

The HHS secretary in the March interview claims “It’s very, very difficult for measles to kill a healthy person, so if you’re healthy, well nourished. In fact, measles at one point was killing about 10,000 people a year in our country at the time, but those deaths were eliminated through nutrition and sanitation.” 

Pediatrician Paul Offit, MD corrects this misstatement and adds context by saying “ … the lowering of the death rate in this country owed almost solely to the development of antibiotics (to treat the secondary bacterial infections) in the 1940s , had nothing to do with nutrition, had nothing to do with sanitation (Offit is explaining why the death rate from measles started falling in the 1940’s before vaccines were developed). 

“Measles virus can certainly kill and typically does kill children who are well nourished. I (Paul Offit) am a veteran of the 1991 Philadelphia measles epidemic where there were 1,400 cases and nine deaths over a period of 3 months. Every one of those deaths was in healthy children who were well nourished. The 6-year-old girl in West Texas who recently died of measles was well nourished, as the doctor who took care of her said.” (Since the Paul Offit statement, another otherwise healthy but not vaccinated child has died of measles). 

The IDSA points out that: “The spread of measles cannot be controlled with proper sanitation alone. While better sanitation (clean water, for example) has decreased the rates of diseases spread through food or water (such as cholera and typhoid), it has a minimal effect on measles, which is spread person to person and through the air. After the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, reported cases dropped by more than 97% between 1965 and 1968, despite the fact that hygiene practices and sanitation did not significantly change during that time.” 

Our current HHS Secretary stated in that March interview that “The vaccine wanes about 4.5% per year, so that means older people are essentially unvaccinated.”  

I am not sure where he gets this information, but the HHS secretary may be misinterpreting data about circulating antibodies against measles – although 4.5% is not actually the correct figure on the expected decline in circulating antibodies – however it really does not matter much in how effective the measles vaccines are. 

Paul Offit helps explain how the HHS Secretary is wrong about the effectiveness of measles vaccines. Offit explains “Measles is a long incubation period disease. That means from the time when you’re first exposed to the time that you develop symptoms is a fairly long period of time, 10 days, 14 days, sometimes as long as 21 days. So all you need to protect yourself against measles is memory cells, memory cells that can make antibodies, but you don’t have to have antibodies in your circulation. You don’t, because antibodies in your circulation are relatively short-lived, but memory cells are long-lived, typically a lifetime, and that’s enough to protect you against measles.” 

Offit adds “Now, the reason you know that memory doesn’t fade is we eliminated measles from this country by the year 2000 — gone. If memory faded, that wouldn’t have been possible. So he’s wrong. Measles immunity doesn’t fade.” 

The third point I will address today is on the misinformation the Health and Human Services Secretary states about the measles vaccine, he claims that: “There are adverse events from the vaccine. It does cause deaths every year. It causes all the illnesses that measles itself cause, encephalitis and blindness, etc., and so people ought to be able to make that choice for themselves.” 

Paul Offit in an interview corrects this statement.  “It doesn’t cause deaths, but it is a live attenuated or weakened virus, and so here’s what it can cause. It can cause, about 14 days or so after inoculation, a lowering of the platelet cells that circulate in your body that help the blood to clot. You can get this sort of showering of what looks like broken blood vessels that is very short-lived and has no sequelae (longer term effects), and that happens about one in 35,000 people that get vaccinated. The vaccine can also cause a low-grade fever and a mild measles rash that lasts for a few days, but that’s it.” 

The Infectious Diseases Society of America states: “The MMR is a weakened live virus vaccine, also known as an attenuated vaccine. This means that after injection (receiving a vaccine), the viruses cause a harmless infection in the vaccinated person with very few, if any, symptoms before they are eliminated from the body. Rarely, vaccine-associated measles can occur in people with compromised immune systems. That is why the vaccine is not recommended for immune-compromised individuals and during pregnancy. Because their immune system is working hard after vaccination, some children who get the vaccine can have mild symptoms such as a fever or rash, but it’s not measles — it’s just the body building immunity to the measles virus so that they don’t get sick if they’re ever exposed.” “There have been no deaths shown to be related to the MMR vaccine in healthy people. There have been rare cases of deaths from vaccine side effects among children who are immune compromised, which is why it is recommended that they don’t get the vaccine. That’s why it is so important that everyone who can get vaccinated does so, to protect those who can’t. There are possible side effects from the vaccine, including a sore arm (from the shot), fever, mild rash, temporary pain/stiffness in the joints and a very small risk of febrile seizures or allergic reaction. Vaccines undergo a scientifically rigorous research and vetting process before they are approved.” 

Below I will list out the adverse effects of the measles vaccine (MMR). The source is the professional resource UpToDate – I have edited the text for clarity and length. I will use the text from the article that discusses adverse effects in children and adolescents. (The full version of the text is on a subscription based website – if you are interested in the full text – you can email me.) 

From UpToDate (accessed 6-19-2025): 

Adverse reactions to measles, mumps, and rubella combination vaccines  occur more frequently with the first than with the second dose  . The rates of most adverse effects are similar whether the child receives MMRV or MMR and varicella vaccine at the same visit. 

Adverse effects include: 

●Fever (>39.4°C) – Develops in 5 to 15 percent of recipients, usually within 6 to 12 days after immunization. 

●Transient rashes – Occur in approximately 5 percent of recipients. 

●Transient lymphadenopathy – Occurs in 5 percent of children and 20 percent of adults. 

●Joint complaints (secondary to the rubella component of the vaccine) – May occur 7 to 21 days after immunization. 

Joint pain, usually of small peripheral joints, has been reported in 0.5 percent of young children and arthralgia and transient arthritis in 25 and 10 percent of postpubertal children assigned female at birth, respectively. 

●Hypersensitivity reactions – Usually minor (wheal and flare, or urticaria) and have been attributed to trace amounts of neomycin or gelatin but not to egg antigens.  

●Increased risk for development of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in the six weeks after vaccination; however, vaccine-associated ITP is rare. 

In a systematic review of nine studies, the estimated risk of ITP after MMR vaccine (1 in 40,000 cases) was lower than the incidence of ITP after natural measles, mumps, or rubella infection (1 in 20,000 cases ) and similar to the incidence of ITP in children. In another systematic review, thrombocytopenia resolved within six months in 93 percent of cases, and severe bleeding manifestations were rare. MMR vaccination was not associated with recurrence of thrombocytopenia in children with ITP . 

●Increased risk of febrile seizures within 6 to 14 days of immunization. 

In a systematic review of observational studies, the estimated attributable risk was one febrile seizure for every 1150 to 1700 doses of vaccine. In a meta-analysis of two large cohort studies, the rate of febrile seizures between one and two weeks after MMR-containing immunization was 3.2 times the rate in unvaccinated children. In a systematic review of three studies (11,115 infants), three febrile seizures were reported, two of which were assessed as not related to the vaccine. Post-MMR febrile seizures may be associated with increased risk of recurrent febrile seizure but do not appear to be associated with increased risk of nonfebrile seizures or epilepsy. 

MMR does not appear to be associated with encephalopathy or encephalitis. In a meta-analysis of two observational studies including more than one million children, no association was detected between MMR immunization and encephalopathy or encephalitis. 

LACK OF ASSOCIATION WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER 

Multiple studies have failed to demonstrate an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or chronic diseases. However, there is an association between congenital rubella syndrome and ASD, highlighting a potential role for rubella immunization in the prevention of ASD. 

In upcoming articles, I will be exploring the research on autism including the studies that show that vaccines do not cause autism. 

I do plan to continue posting articles on nutrition and fitness with articles in the works on how much protein we should be eating. The Training 4 Life series will continue to discuss the different ways we can challenge our bodies to adapt to exercise. I will be introducing a new series that will highlight being active not just in the gym but in daily life and recreation – for example hiking. 

Frankly I would like to be able to focus on fitness, nutrition and medicine.  I am anxious to brag about how my son, and I just climbed 3 mountain peaks including a “fourteener” in an article that will talk about safely hiking up mountains and how I as a 58 year old trained. However, what is currently going on in the political world cannot be ignored. Please bear with me as we explore some of these topics. 

Science is messy – scientists are human. Societal and political pressures have and will continue to influence how science is conducted. Those of us who rely on science to help people are well aware of those limitations. I practice medicine that is based on scientific evidence with the understanding of limitations of the science and how it applies to each of my patients. I am not captive to the pharmaceutical industry or “big medicine”. While science is imperfect and messy – a world where we pay no attention to science is not a world we would want to live in. 

For a good discussion of science and politics check out the 3-part series put together by the folks at the scientific journal “Nature” called “Stick to the Science”. 

I encourage discussion on all my articles; please be kind. I would love to have a civil discussion – no name calling or pointing of fingers – I don’t care who you voted for in the last election – that is done, and it is time to move forward. There are issues that reasonable people can discuss without demonizing “the other side”, but at the same time being brave enough to call for changes that are essential. What is happening in our society now is beyond partisan politics.

Russ 

See “Protection Against Measles” for more information on measles vaccination. 

In Infectious Diseases Update: Measles, Not Just a Rash I discuss the signs, symptoms and complications of measles.

As part of the “Health Matters in 2025” series I introduced some points for conversation about the societal issues complicating measles. For the first article on measles in what will be an ongoing series see Measles Outbreak and Religion.

Vitamin A and its role in treating measles has become a political issue. For more information see my article on the art and science of medicine. 

Please note I am not an infectious disease or public health expert. I am a PA in a rural family practice clinic where I also provide hospital and emergency medicine services. This article is intended for general information and not as personal medical advice. Please see my full listing of  Disclosures, Disclaimers and Context.

For more information specific to infectious diseases please see Health and Medical Resources: Infectious Diseases and Public Health . I have been building this page with a list of  resources and will continue to add more information in the future.