As U.S. measles cases continue to spread across the nation and into New England, outbreaks in Maine are less likely because of the state’s high vaccination rates, according to Noah Nesin, a longtime Bangor-area physician now on the board of the Maine Public Health Association.
But he said there may be some small communities with more vulnerability to the disease.
Just this year, the state hit the 95 percent vaccination rate required for measles herd immunity, leaving Maine in pretty good shape relative to almost every other state in the nation, Nesin said on Thursday.
“Overall, population health wise, we are in good shape,” he said. “But there are pockets of vulnerable populations. If exposed, there could be a local outbreak in those populations among the unvaccinated.”
The highly contagious disease that has killed hundreds of thousands globally was nearly eliminated two decades ago, following the development of a vaccine in the 1960s. But over time, concerns about vaccine safety escalated, leading some to opt out of annual vaccine protocols.
Sitting U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. long led the anti-vaccine charge as chairman of a group called Children’s Health Defense, which has spread false and misleading claims about the shots. And as vaccine skepticism grew, so did measles outbreaks among the unvaccinated.
Prior to his recent confirmation, Kennedy’s detractors pointed to 5,700 measles cases and 83 deaths related to his anti-vaccine stance in Samoa. Kennedy has denied those claims.
In 2014, there were 383 measles cases in an Amish community in Ohio, and in 2019, there were more than 900 cases in an Orthodox Jewish community in New York.
This most recent outbreak began in a Mennonite community in West Texas.
As of Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 301 confirmed measles cases across 14 states, including New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont.
There have been two fatalities and 50 hospitalizations, the CDC said.
On Friday, Kennedy insisted on Fox News that measles vaccines have potential dangers, despite public health experts saying the opposite.
“What he should be doing is going to West Texas and New Mexico and Oklahoma and declaring loudly and clearly, ‘Vaccinate your children,’ because that’s the only way to prevent this infection,” said Paul Offit, a physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of a vaccine advisory committee at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in an interview with MedPage Today.
Nesin argued that Mainers tend to be well-informed about the benefits of vaccines. He noted that nearly 75 percent of voters rejected a referendum in 2020 that attempted to repeal a state law that eliminated religious and philosophical exemptions from vaccination requirements for students attending schools and colleges and for employees of health care facilities. It passed in all 16 counties.
“There was really good information about the benefits of vaccines and vaccine safety,” Nesin said. “It was promoted in a manner that people were able to hear it.”
Nonetheless, the law does not apply to home schoolers who do not participate in any public school activities. There are more than 12,000 home-schooled children, and many of their families choose to not vaccinate, although exact numbers are not known.
Trish Hutchins, a Home Schoolers of Maine board member, said just because students are homeschooled does not mean they are unvaccinated.
“There is a very wide spectrum of home schoolers. If you sample a given group, you’d probably find it similar to other school or public school groups,” she said. “I believe their opinions about vaccines are across the spectrum.”
There is also an Amish population with settlements in roughly six Maine counties, including Aroostook, Lincoln, Oxford, Penobscot, Somerset and Waldo. Some of its members may choose to not be vaccinated, although public health experts note that’s not universally the case among Amish families.
“Yes, those are concerns. To the extent that we have populations in the state that are not vaccinated or who may be targeted by vaccine disinformation, that’s a public health problem,” Nesin said.
But the people who are unvaccinated against measles do have more protection in Maine than in most other states with lower vaccination rates, according to Nesin. The people who benefit the most from herd immunity are kids, as well as adults with immunodeficiency who can’t be vaccinated or don’t mount a full response to vaccination.
Most Americans born before 1957 are presumed to have been naturally exposed to measles and have no risk of catching it, according to the CDC.
For people who have received two doses of the vaccine which was available starting in 1963, there is a very low risk of getting measles, although Nesin noted it is not impossible.
“Even if they get it, they are much less likely to have severe disease than those who have not been immunized, “ he said.
Since the spread of U.S. cases continues, Kennedy has floated Vitamin A supplements and an improved diet as a way to respond to the outbreak.
“It is totally untrue that you can prevent measles by nutritional supplements, lifestyle changes or raw milk,” Nesin said.