Pennsylvania reports 74 new measles cases

Pennsylvania's health department reported seventy-four new measles cases on Wednesday. The state has recorded one thousand seventy-eight cases so far this year, with at least two hundred seven people hospitalized and five people dead.

Most new cases were already sick weeks ago

More than forty of the seventy-four cases represent individuals who were sick more than two weeks ago and are no longer contagious. Their cases were only recently reported and confirmed, so Wednesday's update does not reflect a current surge in new infections.

“does not reflect a current surge in new infections”

Vaccination rates have dropped since the pandemic

The CDC recommends two MMR vaccine doses: the first at ages twelve to fifteen months and the second between four and six years old. During the two thousand twenty-five to two thousand twenty-six school year, ninety-two point four percent of kindergartners received the MMR vaccine, down from ninety-five point two percent in two thousand nineteen to two thousand twenty.

Pennsylvania steps up vaccination efforts

Pennsylvania's department of health has administered more than eight thousand eight hundred doses of the MMR vaccine. About three thousand five hundred doses were given in August and more than two thousand five hundred in September as the state responds to the outbreak.