photo by: Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly joined Republican Sen. Bill Clifford of Garden City to urge residents of southwest Kansas, especially children, to be vaccinated for measles amid spread of the virus to eight counties. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has confirmed 37 cases of measles, but the total could be higher.

TOPEKA — With three dozen confirmed cases of measles in southwest Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly said Tuesday that it’s important for children and adults to be vaccinated and for people with symptoms to stay away from public places.

On March 13, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced the first confirmed case of measles in the state since 2008. The number of confirmed cases climbed to 37 within a cluster of eight counties, state officials said, but it’s thought that the real number of cases is actually higher because not everyone who contracts measles visits a health department, clinic or hospital.

“This measles outbreak is serious,” Kelly said during a news conference in Garden City. “It reminds us that the health of our communities, and especially of our children, depends on all of us to recognize our collective responsibility to each other.”

She recalled that during her youth it wasn’t uncommon for children to get measles. Some became quite ill and were hospitalized, suffered permanent health complications or died, she said. Widespread acceptance of the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine for children and adults served the public good by providing immunity in communities, she said.

Vaccine hesitancy, a phenomenon driven by misinformation, undercuts adherence to important public health recommendations, the governor said.

“Measles spreads to our classrooms, our churches, our recreation centers and our grocery stores,” Kelly said. “It lingers in the air and it causes real harm. Yet, no parent wants their child in the hospital over something we know how to prevent.”

She said the vaccine was 93% effective in preventing measles with one dose and 97% effective with the recommended second dose. In some regions of the state, the governor said, vaccination rates have fallen below 90%.

Symptoms of measles typically begin with a high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. Three to five days after symptoms begin, a skin rash can develop starting on the face and spreading to the neck, trunk, arms and legs.

The doctors

Physician Dereck Totten, who serves as chief medical officer for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the outbreak expanded primarily among unvaccinated individuals. He said there were 37 confirmed cases in Finney County and seven other counties in southwest Kansas. Thirty confirmed cases involved unvaccinated patients, he said.

“The vaccine is absolutely our best defense against this outbreak,” Totten said. “Measles is an extremely contagious disease, and it spreads very rapidly.”

Totten said the virus could be spread when an infected person coughed, sneezed or talked. When a person with measles exposes others, he said, nine of 10 people without immunity could be expected to catch the virus.

Totten recommends that most children get their first vaccination at 12 months to 15 months of age and the second dose at 4 years to 6 years of age. But he said KDHE was recommending an early extra dose at 6 months for babies in the eight affected counties of Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray, Haskell, Kiowa, Morton and Stevens. KDHE extended this recommendation to the 14 counties bordering the eight-county cluster tied to the measles outbreak.

“I can’t stress enough how important it is to receive that MMR vaccine to protect yourself, your family and loved ones and those in your community against this outbreak,” Totten said.

Immunity can also be acquired by having had measles in the past, he said.

Sen. Bill Clifford, a Garden City Republican and ophthalmologist, said the official total of measles in Kansas understated the threat. He urged children and adults not yet vaccinated for measles to get MMR shots.

“I view this as the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “We do report 37 cases, but if you talk to anyone in health care there are several people sitting at home with red spots, while one person who’s sick is coming to the emergency room. Realize that it’s out there. It is very contagious. If you’re not vaccinated, you ought to be.”

Misinformation

The governor attributed the reemergence of measles in Kansas to the spread of misinformation that convinced some people to avoid vaccines. The anti-vaccination movement undermined the ability of communities to fight off infectious disease, she said.

Organizations opposed to public vaccination campaigns convinced Kansas legislators to support laws exempting people from COVID-19 vaccines. On April 11, the Legislature voted to send the governor a bill that included a religious exemption for vaccination mandates. House Bill 2045 was formally presented to the governor on April 18, and she could veto it without consequence because the House and Senate adjourned for the year.

“In recent years,” Kelly said, “the Legislature has chipped away at the public health tools communities rely on. They have made it harder for schools and local health departments to act quickly when outbreaks occur. We need those tools back. But even without them, we’re not powerless.”

The governor and Clifford both said that Kansas had a history of looking out for public health. Clifford thought back to a Kansas public health pioneer, Samuel Crumbine, a physician who practiced in Garden City. Crumbine sought to restrain communicable diseases such as tuberculosis by improving hygiene, ending the practice of sharing towels in restrooms and discouraging the use of common drinking cups.

“Many haven’t heard of him,” Clifford said. “He’s viewed as the father of public health.”

And Kelly said the first town in the United States to line up in 1955 for the polio vaccine was Protection, Kansas.

“Those families trusted science,” Kelly said. “They trusted one another. And they took action to keep their children and their neighbors safe. They didn’t ask who the president was or who got credit. They just wanted to protect their kids in their community. We need that same kind of response now.”

She said mothers, fathers, grandparents and other caregivers might have questions about the measles vaccine. Caution was a normal instinct, she said.

“You do not have to do this alone. Talk to your doctor. Ask questions. Get the facts and then make a plan,” the governor said. “This is not political. It is not about ideology. It is about protecting the kids at your kitchen table in your community.”