The US is facing a growing measles outbreak as skepticism about the vaccine grows

Americans’ faith in vaccines is waning, along with a rapid rise in other diseases. Oregon recently experienced its largest measles outbreak in five years: 30 cases, all among unvaccinated people. As of mid-August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 219 measles cases in the United States, up from 59 last year—a 271% increase.

According to a new poll from Gallup, the percentage of Americans who say it is important to vaccinate their children has dropped from 58% in 2019 to 40%. Only 51% believe the government should require children to be vaccinated, down from 62% in 2019. Meanwhile, a CDC report found that vaccination rates dropped from 95% among preschoolers during the 2019-2020 school year to 93% two years later. Two percent may not seem like a lot, but for diseases like measles, herd immunity is compromised when the vaccination rate drops below 95%.

Dr. Erin Corriveau, an associate professor of family medicine and public health at the University of Kansas Health System and a physician, believes the COVID pandemic may have caused some people to be hesitant to get vaccinated. “There was a lot of false information and disinformation from online sources like TikTok, Reddit, etc.,” he said.

Vaccines have done a great job of controlling outbreaks of several diseases, so younger generations have forgotten what is at stake. Dr. Steven Furr, a family physician in Alabama and president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, notes that today, many people still do not experience vaccine-preventable diseases.

“I used to vaccinate kids with epiglottitis,” Furr said. “Thank you for the vaccines, it’s been 25 years since I saw a case.” He saw a similar pattern playing out with COVID in Alabama: “People were reluctant to get vaccinated until the levels of COVID started to rise, and then when people started dying, they got vaccinated. The prices went down, people stopped.”

In addition to reducing Americans’ faith in vaccines, COVID-19 has also disrupted vaccine pipelines, making it difficult for people to get vaccines or get information from their doctors. “Families became accustomed to going to the ER or urgent care instead of seeing their family doctor or getting vaccines at school,” Furr said. This means that doctors are less likely to follow patients and educate them.

The problem goes beyond in-person visits to doctors or school vaccination clinics. Furr notes that as vaccine technology has improved to be able to target more diseases, vaccines have also become more expensive. Now, doctor’s offices have to put up a lot of money to save because they have to pay up front before they are reimbursed by the insurance.

Still, doctors Corriveau and Furr see the doctor-patient family relationship as the key to increasing vaccination rates. Furr notes that vaccination rates increase when doctors at his clinic use visits as an opportunity to ask patients if they were up to date on their vaccinations.

Corriveau sees the current climate as an opportunity for doctors to listen to patients’ complaints, educate them, and show patients where to find evidence-based vaccination information.

He emphasizes the importance of listening: “Most of the time, doctors are a vaccine,” he says. “I have heard my patients say that their previous doctor would not have allowed them to enter the clinic if they did not regularly receive the recommended vaccinations. We have to give patients more opportunities than that. People need to be vaccinated. . . but we have to give people the time and opportunity to talk about decisions about vaccines so they can feel confident about their care.”